He concluded a speech of singular power and intelligence by observing, that it was not his intention to trouble the House, at that time, with the remedies for these evils. He chose rather to defer them till the bill came into the House.[177]
He was followed by Governor Johnstone, who opposed the bill on the reasonable ground that an examination of facts should precede legislation, and that it was necessary to hear evidence before forming any conclusion on subjects so important. He entered into an examination of the defence which Lord Clive had just made of his conduct. In regard to the two first charges, he acknowledged that they originated in the clumsy manner in which business was done at the India House; that the first was meant to be confined to particular members of the Council; and that the second was not meant as a charge, but as illustrating another point. He contended, however, in vehement terms, that in regard to the fourth charge, that of the Salt Company, his Lordship had violated his duty, and disobeyed the strong and repeated orders of the Court of Directors, and that the monopoly had been attended with the most injurious consequences to the country; that as to the proportion of the profits which came to him as Governor, it was no excuse for receiving them to allege, that they had been distributed among his friends and dependants. In regard to the gold coinage, he urged that it was not enough that Lord Clive had derived no benefit from it (though indeed, as Governor, he had received a per centage on the coinage); that it was a duty of his station to become acquainted with principles so important to the prosperity of those he governed; that his receipt of the per centage of one and an eighth on the revenues, in lieu of the advantages resulting from his share in the Society of Trade, however sanctioned by the Directors, was illegal. He next attacked the legacy of Meer Jaffier, the basis of the celebrated bounty, and declared his opinion that the foundation of the large establishments and increased expenditure which, since Lord Clive left India, had brought the Company's affairs to the verge of ruin, had been laid during his government, and under his advice. Nearly the whole of the speech was an attack on Lord Clive, on the same subjects, and conveyed in the same violent language to which he had already so often given vent during the contests in the Court of Proprietors.[178]
Leave was given to introduce the bill.
Nearly three months had elapsed since the allusion to India in the Royal Speech, and Ministers, during that time, had shown no disposition to take the matter into their own hands, as such a reference seemed to promise. They were not prepared for a measure of such importance, embarrassed, as they were, with other nearer business. By the allusions in the speech, they, perhaps, wished to show that they had not lost sight of a subject which occupied so much of the public attention; but, with nothing to propose, were willing to let it lie over till it received its first impulse from some other quarter. This impulse it very soon did receive.
On the day of bringing in Mr. Sulivan's bill[179], Colonel Burgoyne made a motion, that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the nature, state, and condition of the East India Company, and of the British affairs in the East Indies. Burgoyne was a man not without talent, of showy parts, bold, vain, well-meaning, a political adventurer. He was not connected with the Ministry, but thought the opportunity a favourable one to bring himself into notice, by taking the lead in a question of great national consequence. In his speech introducing the motion, he represented, with much judgment, the inconsistency of giving a vote on the bill which was that day to be presented, without first examining the state of the country to which it referred; and that no facts were before the House to enable it to come to a sound judgment: he professed perfect impartiality and independence of all parties, and disavowed any hostility to the Company or its servants: he disclaimed all wish to throw the Company's affairs into the hands of the Crown; but argued that facts sufficiently notorious had occurred to justify and demand an inquiry into the rights of the Company, and the mode in which they had been exercised, especially as the fate of fifteen millions of people was involved in the question. It was objected to his motion, that the proceedings of a Select Committee being private, there was little responsibility on its members; that such a Committee would virtually be really a Government nomination; that no plan was yet before the House, and that, therefore, the inquiries of such a Committee must necessarily be vague and indefinite, such as the House could not limit or control. The motion, was, however, carried without a division; and the members, thirty-one in number, appointed by ballot, with directions, as the session was far spent, to sit during the summer. Mr. Sulivan's bill was dropped after the second reading.
When the Committee met, Colonel Burgoyne, who had proposed it, was chosen Chairman. It was expected that he would have proposed a plan; but having none to offer, Governor Johnstone, who was a member, and who saw all the advantages of attack which such a Committee afforded him, addressed the Committee, and submitted to them one which, from different motives, was agreed to by all. By some (says Mr. Strachey, himself a member of the Committee) it was readily adopted, because they saw that it tended to an inquiry into the conduct of individuals who had amassed great wealth in India, and particularly of Lord Clive, whose high reputation, as well as riches, had rendered him the most exalted object of envy. By Lord Clive himself, who was also a member of the Committee, the plan was readily adopted, because it was not fitting for him to oppose an inquiry into a conduct that had been so long the subject of ill-grounded invective. By the few personal friends of his Lordship it was readily adopted, because they were convinced that his character would receive additional lustre from the scrutiny, and that the attack levelled at his fame would tend only to establish his reputation in the minds of all mankind. Others acquiesced in it, because some plan was necessary, and it was the only one proposed.
It was not long before the hostile feelings of several members of the Committee to Lord Clive became manifest. The order originally proposed was soon departed from, and the inquiry pointedly turned against him, with many symptoms of personal animosity. The first and second reports,—the former containing examinations of witnesses, regarding the circumstances attending the revolutions of 1757 and 1760, the presents then given, and the grant of Lord Clive's jaghire,—the latter relating to the grievances connected with the inland trade in the time of Mr. Verelst,—were hurried on, and presented on the 26th of May following, just before the rising of the session, and printed in the Journals of the House.
Governor Johnstone took a leading part in their proceedings, and his views gave a particular turn to their labours, and that by no means favourable to Lord Clive. His plan seemed to be to show, that it had long been the custom to receive presents in India; that large presents had been received by Lord Clive, at the revolution in 1757, and by Mr. Vansittart and others in that of 1760; and that, therefore, the sums received by his brother, Mr. John Johnstone, on the accession of the young prince in 1765, stood on equally good grounds. The argument was, in one respect, at least, defective; for while, in the first instances, there existed no prohibition against receiving presents, in the last case, the Council had lying before them, covenants with the Company expressly restraining them from the receipt of presents, which covenants they had put aside, to avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by their own wrong, of enriching themselves by illicit advantages.
The publication of these examinations, of course, increased the ferment, which had begun to prevail on the subject of Indian affairs, and they were much talked of and discussed during the recess of Parliament that followed. Things had long been retrograding in India. So far back as May, 1769, the disastrous news from Madras, of Hyder's success, had produced a fall of 60 per cent. in the price of India stock. This the Directors had treated as an evil speedily to be removed. But that event was closely followed by news of a famine in Bengal in the following year; while trade declined, difficulties of every kind increased, and the debt of Calcutta was rapidly rising. Still, however, the Directors went on, in hopes of a favourable change, and from year to year, while their means diminished, the rate of dividend was increased; till, in 1770, it had reached 12 per cent. The extent of the bills from Bengal had excited alarm even then; but in the face of them, the Directors, at the first quarterly court in 1771, communicated their opinion, that the dividend should be raised a quarter per cent. for the ensuing half year; thus completing the 12½ per cent., the highest annual dividend that by the act was allowed to be drawn in the most prosperous circumstances. Their return to power they had owed to the assistance of the party which demanded a rise of dividend, and they were resolved to retain its support by a perseverance in their favourite object. Lord Clive had opposed the whole course of conduct of the Directors, their contract with Government, and the system which they pursued, both at home and abroad; though with little other effect than that of drawing on himself their active hostility. The inquiries in Parliament, however, had weakened the power of the Directors. The state of the Company's affairs could not now be permanently concealed. They found difficulties thickening around them. They were divided among themselves. Their expenses abroad threatened, not only to swallow up all the revenue of the country, but to burden them in both countries with an intolerable load of debt. By their recent engagements with Government they had given ministers a right to interfere in their concerns, and, in fact, placed themselves in their power. They contrived, however, to procrastinate, and to avoid any crisis, until the Parliament had risen.
A few days after the session was concluded[180], a grand installation of the Knights of the Bath took place[181], when Lord Clive was installed as a knight of the order, having been appointed several years before. In September the same year, upon the death of the Earl of Powis, lord-lieutenant of the county of Salop, he considered himself, from the extent of his property in the county, and the importance of his public services, as entitled to succeed him in the office. At the same time he felt some difficulty, being resolved that, situated as matters were, he would ask nothing of Ministers that could subject him to the appearance of courting their favour. Some of his friends advised him at once to ask a private audience of His Majesty, and to explain his claims without intervention. But this his good sense forbade; for Ministers, if they had not encouraged, had at least shown no disapprobation of the personal manner in which the proceedings of the Select Committee had been directed; and he justly considered it as dangerous to run the risk of making his Sovereign and the Ministers, who, at this period, had gained a decided ascendency over all the different parties in the country, his declared enemies. "I cannot be of your opinion," says he, writing on this subject to his friend Mr. Strachey[182], "because I think that things are not yet ripe for an open rupture. Until my conduct in Parliament is decided upon, I do not desire the King and his Ministers to be my declared enemies. In such a situation I should certainly not meet with much applause from the House for my conduct in the East Indies; and I wish at least that the members of the House, when they come to decide, may have no other motive for an unfavourable decision but envy; that, indeed, is too strongly implanted in the human breast to be removed." It soon appeared, however, that Lord Rochford had mentioned his name to his Majesty, who received it favourably; and a friend writes him that he believes that Lord North had really formed no plan on the subject (as Lord Clive seems to have apprehended), and would be very happy to have an opportunity of offering him the lieutenancy. "If it appears," says his friend, "that success is clear, you will only have to take the steps which the decorums of bestowing favours require; princes and ladies never are supposed to offer, but to grant, their favours, and expect to be asked what they have determined to give." Lord Clive, in conclusion, writes to Mr. Strachey; "I expect W. here in a day or two; and if he brings me a favourable account, I shall lose no time in going to town and demanding a private audience, that I may explain myself fully to his Majesty. I will not receive the lieutenancy through the channel of a minister." In this resolution, the result of a natural feeling of resentment, he probably relaxed; and his nomination of course took place, at least formally, on the recommendation of Lord North. Writing, on the 9th of October, to Mr. Strachey, he says, "Dear Strachey, I have the pleasure to inform you that I kissed the King's hand to-day, upon being appointed Lieutenant of the county of Salop. Afterwards I had a private audience, when I pushed the matter ably and well, to that degree as I could perceive the King was very much affected. The answer was favourable, but not determined; but I think it would be imprudent to treat more on the subject in a letter, and must therefore defer farther explanation until I have the pleasure of seeing you. The King talked upon Indian affairs for near half an hour; and I had an opportunity of mentioning your services and abilities."