Mr. Johnstone and his friends had trusted to be relieved from the prosecutions instituted against them, by exerting their influence to effect a change of Directors. In April, 1767, however, their efforts for that purpose again failed: the elections were still favourable to the old Directors, and Mr. Rous was again chosen Chairman. Lord Clive was then on his passage home. Mr. Johnstone's party, seeing that nothing was to be looked for from the Directors, adopted the resolution of attempting to work on the Proprietors, who were still, in general, discontented on the subject of the dividends. At the General Court, therefore, held on the 6th of May following, Mr. Pulteney moved, that the dividend should be raised to 12½ per cent.; a proposition which met with very general concurrence. Mr. Pulteney having thus secured the good-will of the Proprietors, Mr. Franks then moved to dismiss the prosecutions which had been instituted against Mr. Johnstone and other persons, for their alleged unwarrantable receipt of money in Bengal. The Chairman in vain proposed that the opinion of the lawyers should be read: the Court, displeased with the Directors, and elated with the measure they had carried against them, with the assistance of Mr. Johnstone and his friends, refused to hear it. Seeing them so determined, and so strong, no opposition was attempted by the Directors, nor even a ballot demanded. The motion of indemnity was carried without farther examination; a great victory to the accused members of Council, and a severe blow on the authority of the Court of Directors and of the Indian governments. It declared indemnity abroad to all who at home had powerful friends connected with the India House; an intimation that was not long disregarded.[137]
The Ministry, in the meanwhile, had begun to take a share in the proceedings of the Company, which for a long time before had not been usual. The reported advantages of the trade, and the great fortunes suddenly amassed and brought home, had excited in the country no small envy, and some desire to share in these advantages; while the repeated revolutions in India, the circumstances attending them, with the rapacity and extortions which had distinguished the progress of the inland trade, had, when known, produced general murmurs throughout the nation. When the news arrived of the successful negotiations of Lord Clive, and of the immense territorial advantages said to be acquired for the Company, the question was raised, to whom belonged these dominions, the government of which was apparently so little suited to the system of a trading company; and the financial difficulties which the Ministers so strongly felt, led them to consider in what way the nation could be admitted to share in them. This was particularly observable after the formation of Lord Chatham's administration.[138]
It has been already mentioned, that Lord Clive shared in that excessive admiration of Mr. Pitt, which, during his first administration, and for some years after, may be said to have been felt by the whole people of England. Lord Clive, in his own politics, had, as we have seen, most attached himself to the Right Hon. George Grenville, a man of great knowledge of business, and of much talent and worth, the leader of one great portion of the Whig interest; but who, at this period, was on indifferent terms with his illustrious though overbearing friend. On the great question of the right to territorial acquisitions, Mr. Pitt was disposed to consider them as under the control of the state; but he was not insensible to the difficulties, legal and political, which the question involved, from the nature of the territories themselves, situated in the dominions of an ancient and independent empire; from the influence which such acquisitions, especially from the patronage they afforded, must have on the British constitution, and the minor difficulties of detail attending any change of local management. We have seen that Lord Clive was strongly persuaded of the paramount rights of the state, and had communicated his opinion to Mr. Pitt. Mr. Walsh, who took an active share in the management of his affairs in England, was anxious to have the approbation, or, at least, the opinion of the great commoner on recent events in India. He, in consequence, had occasional interviews with him, the circumstances of which he communicated in his letters to his friend; and though Mr. Pitt, who always entertained the highest opinion of Lord Clive's merits, appears to have cautiously avoided committing himself by any decided opinion, yet, as the letters relate to persons on every account so remarkable, no apology seems necessary for introducing them.
The first of these notices occurs in a letter of Mr. Walsh, written after the news had arrived of Lord Clive's negotiation with the Vizier, and of the subsequent peace, and its advantages to the Company, especially in the possession of the dewannee, which really made them rulers of Bengal. "I am very sorry," says Mr. Walsh, "you did not write a few lines to Mr. Pitt, to conciliate him to your negotiations: he has left us for Pynsent, where he is doing great things. I spoke a few words to him, just as he left the House of Commons, telling him you had, in great measure, carried into execution what I had once the honour of laying before him; to which he answered, that he had heard of the great things you had done; that you had acquired great honour; but that they were too vast: it was some time he had been dissatisfied with our proceedings there: however, he was very glad to hear that Lord Clive was well, and that he had not gone up to Delhi. This was all that passed between us, whilst he was getting on his great coat."—"I should be very sorry," he continues, "to have been adverse to you or your regulations, therefore mention this that due attention may be paid to him. One word from him would go far in making or unmaking the Company; and it is the uncertainty of the public, how far the Company may be supported by the Government, that makes their stock so low, notwithstanding the late events. The renewal of their charter is a serious object; the effecting it may possibly be reserved for you." It gives a grand idea of Mr. Pitt's reputation, and of his influence on the public mind, to consider, that, when this interview took place, he was merely a private member of Parliament, holding no office.
In the interval between this letter of May, and the following of November, Mr. Pitt had come into office with Lord Camden, Lord Shelburne, the Earl of Northington, and Charles Townsend, and had been raised to the peerage. There was some reason to think that the new Ministry were disposed to take part with that portion of the Court of Directors that was hostile to Lord Clive. Lord Shelburne in particular, who was supposed to have much influence with the Premier, had always favoured Sulivan. "Soon after the new administration was formed," says Mr. Walsh[139], "the Chairman and Deputy Chairman were sent for to the Cabinet Council, and were acquainted that, as the affairs of the India Company were likely to be taken into consideration by Parliament, it would be proper for them to be prepared. An intimation of the kind could not fail to alarm, and affect the stock greatly.
"The Quarterly Court being over, I made an excursion to Bath, where Lord Chatham, Lord Camden, and Lord Northington were assembled. My private motive for this journey was to discover their disposition towards the Company; and, by means of my intimacy with Lord Camden, to endeavour to put you on a good footing with Lord Chatham, who, there was some reason to apprehend, was not the best disposed either towards you, the present direction, or the Company. I recollected Lord Chatham's discourse to me about your acquisitions being too vast; and saw Shelburne, Barré, and the enemies of the present direction in the highest employs. Lord Camden immediately removed any apprehensions as to any thing hostile being intended against the Company. I told him that I was ignorant whether the Directors had given the Administration full information concerning the affairs of Bengal: but, whatever their conduct might have been in that respect, I, as acting for Lord Clive, should use no kind of reserve with the Administration; that Lord Clive, though a zealous servant of the Company, ever considered his duty to his country to be the first and greatest obligation upon him; that he had formerly submitted to Lord Chatham's consideration, whether the Bengal acquisitions were an object for the state or the Company; and that, though the Company had in a manner been left to pursue their own measures in that respect, yet it was reasonable that, in such great prosperity as theirs, they should contribute liberally to the exigencies of the state; that your friends would readily concur in such a measure, and that I wished for an opportunity of assuring Lord Chatham of this; but as I knew him, particularly in his present ill state of health, to be inaccessible, I requested his Lordship to report it to him. He advised my writing a note to see Lord Chatham, which I accordingly did, and was admitted, though it was then a favour, as I understood, he had only granted to Lord Camden.
"I should have mentioned that, before I left town, I waited on General Conway[140]; made him the same offer of information; gave him a state of the revenues, and pointed out to him some of the means by which the commerce of the Company might be greatly advanced. He appeared quite unacquainted with these affairs, but very desirous to be informed.
"It was the 11th of last month that I saw Lord Chatham. I told him the occasion of my visit in almost the same words I had used to Lord Camden; in answer to which, after complimenting me on the purity, as he styled it, of my intentions, and of the liberal way in which I had considered this matter, he told me that all matters of fact relating to India would be very acceptable to him, though he did not wish to receive propositions on that head, as the affair was of too extensive and too difficult a nature for Ministers to determine; that they could not undertake to decide between the State and the Company, what was precisely proper for each; that the consideration must of necessity come into Parliament; that by the means of so many gentlemen coming from different parts of the kingdom, and turning the subject different ways in their minds, many new lights might be gathered; that the Crown had nothing to do in the affair, and that its ministers could only interfere in preventing unreasonableness and oppressions on one side or the other; and that the Company, in all cases, must subsist. On my giving him the state of the revenues, he seemed much surprised at the smallness of the amount, saying that Holwell and common report had made it much larger. He spoke very handsomely of you; said that he heard with concern of the virulent publications against you; that it was incumbent on the Company to support you strongly, and likewise to reward you. I mentioned how greatly the Company's commerce might be extended with the assistance of Government; hinted the necessity there was of excluding foreigners from being stockholders and sharing in our benefits; and concluded with observing that every thing I had heard from him gave me the highest satisfaction, except the impracticability that he intimated of any arrangement between the Administration and the Directors before the meeting of Parliament.
"This is the substance of my conversation with this great man, who is certainly not only the most vigorous, but the most comprehensive and judicious, minister this kingdom ever had. I hope, in consequence of what I before wrote you, that you have taken some steps to conciliate and attach him. He has a greatness in himself, which makes him feel and assert the great actions of others.
"I put your public letters into the hands of Lord Camden, who, doubtless, showed them to Lord Chatham. Both one and the other, I am certain, are well satisfied with the confidence. Mr. Grenville has had all the papers laid before him, and part of them, particularly those relative to the conduct of the servants, have been communicated to others."