"Such," continues Sir John, "was the parting advice which Lord Clive gave to his former colleagues: but the task of reform which he had commenced could have been completed by his own commanding talents alone, aided by the impression of his high personal character. It was far too great for the strength of those on whom it devolved."
On the 23d of January he wrote an additional letter to the Select Committee. It was for the purpose of recommending a measure which he had omitted to mention in his letter of the 16th, but which he considered as essentially necessary to the interest and honour of the Company. "The people of this country," says he, "have little or no idea of a divided power; they imagine all authority is vested in one man. The Governor of Bengal should always be looked upon by them in this light, as far as is consistent with the honour of the Committee and Council. In every vacant season, therefore, I think it expedient that he take a tour up the country, in the quality of a supervisor-general. Frauds and oppressions of every sort being by this means laid open to his view, will, in a great measure, be prevented, and the natives preserve a just opinion of the importance and dignity of our president, upon whose character and conduct much of the prosperity of the Company's affairs in Bengal must ever depend."
Lord Clive finally embarked for England in the Britannia, in the end of January, 1767. In the East all his endeavours had been crowned with brilliant success. His operations, from the moment he appeared on that theatre till he quitted it, formed a great era in the history of England, of India, and of the world. The rapidity and ease with which the richest provinces in India were subjugated, threw a new light on the nature of the intercourse between Europe and Asia. The veil which Bussy had in part lifted up, he removed. Men, who till now had appeared in the humble garb of merchants and suitors, henceforward assumed the reins of government, and took their place in the direction of nations and of states where they had lately been strangers. The power of the East was once more, as in the days of Alexander, brought into collision with that of the West, and once more quailed before it. The grand secret of oriental splendour and weakness was confirmed; and Clive had sufficient greatness of mind to forego the tempting occasion of being the conqueror of the Mogul empire, and to content himself with a more moderate and less brilliant, but to his country, infinitely more useful triumph. He had the rare, and, in a successful soldier and conqueror, almost unparalleled magnanimity, to place his ambition under the guidance of his judgment and his duty.
FOOTNOTES:
[66] Letter to Major Stibbert, Bankepore, dated 27th September, 1766.
[67] Dated 4th October, 1765.
[68] He afterwards saw reason to estimate a Colonel's share at 7000l.
[69] Here, unfortunately, Sir John Malcolm's labours close. A few extracts, marked out by him, afterwards occur, where they are pointed out.
[70] End of 1762.
[71] Vansittart's Narrative, vol. ii. p. 164-170.