"The General, myself, and other friends, take our departure on Monday next.
"I remain, dear Sir,
"Your affectionate friend, ever,
"Clive."
Lord Clive had always intended to return home overland, and had arranged with several of his friends to accompany him; but the state of his health put an end to this long-cherished project.
When he was thus preparing to embark for his native country, broken as he was in health and constitution, and numerous as the enemies were whom his conduct had raised up against him, he might still look back with proud and generous satisfaction on the great sacrifice which he had made, and the splendid effects which it had produced. In the short space of twenty months he had quelled the opposition of the civil service, had dismissed the most culpable, and endeavoured to infuse a better spirit into those left; by his firmness, and, perhaps, still more by the magic influence of his name, he had subdued the dangerous spirit of mutiny among the military officers, after it had broken out in overt acts; had sent off the ringleaders without resistance; had introduced new officers in their room, pardoned the less guilty, and restored them to their rank and confidence; he had concluded an advantageous peace with the Nabob-Vizier, by which he secured a large contribution for the Company, to pay the expenses of the war, and gained two provinces for the emperor, our ally; he had farther secured for him an annual tribute out of Bengal; he had acquired for the Company a grant of the dewannee, or rather, in reality, of the revenues and government of the three great provinces; by means of which, and of an agreement with the Nabob, the whole political power came into the hands of the English, who, from that moment, were sovereigns, and the effective arbiters of India: for the names of Nabob and Emperor, unsupported by adequate military force, were but sounds. The Company's debts in India had been reduced, and nearly extinguished; their large investments provided, chiefly without drawing on home; the expenses of the various establishments had been examined and reduced with a liberal economy; the forces were never in a more efficient state, and never supported at so small an expense. His perfect knowledge of every part of the service, and his resolute determination, produced a silent acquiescence in reductions proposed by him, which, perhaps, would have excited the loudest murmurs had they come from any other quarter. And, after all reductions had been made, he might justly boast that he left the various services the best and most liberally paid in the world. He had checked the misrule which had desolated the provinces, and imposed fetters on the cupidity of the ruling caste, which were, unfortunately too soon removed after his departure: he had restored the course of justice to its original channel, and the natives to their wonted trade and commerce. Their political power was, indeed, gone; hardly a semblance of it remained; but the ordinary and daily aspect of society, which had been so rudely broken in upon for four or five years, by the interference of the English and their servants in the internal trade and concerns of the country, was once more restored. No man but Clive could have achieved such changes; and he derived his power to effect them from his own energetic character, and from the glory which his former exploits had diffused around him.
He held that the interest of England was best consulted by stopping the career of conquest, and by confining ourselves to Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; rich, compact, and defensible provinces, that, by good management, could be governed at little expense, and leave a large surplus revenue. His policy in regard to the native princes he himself explains. He never came into contact with the Mahrattas, the grand disturbers of India, but was strongly urged by the Emperor Shah Aulum to enter into an alliance with them, and accompany him to Delhi. This, we have seen, he obstinately declined. "As I proceed up the country," says he in a letter[120] to Mr. Palk, "if I find the Mahrattas discontented and disposed to be troublesome, I shall endeavour to form an alliance with the Jauts, Rohillas, and Suja Dowla, to keep the country on this side Delhi in tranquillity. This alliance is most earnestly wished for by the three above-mentioned powers, and will, if any thing can, intimidate the Mahrattas from committing ravages and disturbances in Hindostan; for certain it is, if we should all unite and attack their country, they could not stand one minute before us." He had also speculated on the possibility, if necessary, of setting up the Rajah of Nagpore (whose vakeels had waited on him at Calcutta to ask an alliance) in opposition to the Peshwa, with whom that Prince was then on bad terms, and in that way trusted to secure domestic peace by dividing the force of his enemy.[121] He did not, however, provoke hostilities; and his great military reputation probably preserved him safe from the attacks of these freebooters, as well as from all other foreign annoyance.
In his intercourse with the chiefs of the different European factories in Bengal, French, Dutch, and Danish, though he never yielded the minutest portion of the rights of his employers, he seems, from his correspondence, to have lived on the most friendly and courteous terms with them all, and to have conciliated them by his fairness and urbanity. But never did he allow any consideration of private interest to interfere with his public duty. We have already seen that, while nearly the whole of his large fortune was in the hands of the Dutch, he attacked and destroyed an armament of that nation, at a moment when he might, without reproach from his Government, have abstained from acting, and when, indeed, he hazarded the censure of his employers, and of the British Government, by the bold and decided measure. Another very characteristic instance of a similar nature occurs in his correspondence. M. Vernet, the Dutch chief of Chinsura, had applied to him to procure the release of some boats which had been stopped by the Nabob's officers, for some informality or evasion. "I have the honour," he says[122], "to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 7th and 9th instant. In consequence of the latter, I have spoken to Mahommed Reza Cawn, who will this day give orders for the release of such of the Dutch boats as are furnished with your dustucks, and contain no greater quantity of goods than are therein specified. But should any of the boats be found laden with merchandise not mentioned in the dustucks, you cannot but confess, from what I have already written you, that it would be highly improper for me to interfere." He immediately adds, "You favoured me, some time ago, with your promise for bills for the amount of two lacs of rupees by your second ship. I am now to request bills for one other lac, if you can conveniently grant them." With him the separation between his public duty and private interest was always complete: he never permitted the latter for a moment to influence his conduct in the other.
The same urbanity and consideration which he showed to foreign Europeans, secured to him the attachment and affection of most of the natives of rank with whom he had occasion to treat. He behaved to them uniformly with the deference and respect that were considered as their due, by the usages of the country. In writing to a friend concerning an increase which had been made to the revenues of Bengal, we have seen[123] that he urged the necessity of stopping, that we might not trench on the fund necessary for the support of the higher class of native families. He was anxious that the regular gradation of ranks should be preserved as it then was, that it should be exposed to no sudden disruption. It would have been well if such beneficent and politic maxims had always been acted upon in future years.
In his choice of men for public situations, he was guided by a regard to their talents, and their capacity of being useful. Though no man was more ready to attend to the recommendation of his friends, such recommendation with him held but the second place, and was listened to only in affairs of detail. All the higher offices, and such as required superior abilities, he, like every other man who has a mind made for command, filled from considerations of merit only. Even some men whom he personally disliked, as for example, Colonel Richard Smith, he constantly employed and encouraged from a sense of their useful qualities.
Among other eminent men whom he patronised, he found Rennell, then a lieutenant of engineers, employed in various surveys, encouraged him to complete the general survey and map of Bengal, communicated to him all such previous surveys as were to be found in the public offices, furnished him with a proper establishment, gave him every assistance in his power, and finally, young as he was, bestowed on him the office of surveyor-general, which seems to have been created for him. Clive's mode of treating officers in whom he could repose confidence, and his means of securing the speedy and effectual execution of the orders he gave, are illustrated by one of his letters[124] to Rennell. He had ordered a general map of the provinces to be completed. "If you have occasion for any assistants, name them, and I will order them to attend you."
He also directed an accurate survey to be made of every mouth of the Ganges, every channel, and every creek, ascertaining at the same time the soundings of each; a survey which, in his instructions, he justly remarks, was likely to afford many new and advantageous directions for our navigation.[125] Till then, our acquaintance with the mouths of the Ganges was very imperfect.