Lord North said that he was determined to attend to every part of the evidence, and to judge of its effect; that any abuse of public authority was of pernicious example; and that the glory which surrounded such presents, did not, if they were illegal, render them less culpable. The high example would in its effects be only the more pernicious;—"Jupiter hoc faxit; ego homuncio non faciam."
Lord Clive, in the course of the debate, made a long defence of his conduct[197]: "Sir, after rendering my country the service which I think I may, without any degree of vanity, claim the merit of; and after having nearly exhausted a life full of employment, for the public welfare and the particular benefit of the East India Company, I little thought that such transactions would have agitated the minds of my countrymen in proceedings like the present, tending to deprive me not only of my property and the fortune which I have fairly acquired, but of that which I hold more dear to me—my honour and reputation." He in the first place solicited the patient indulgence of the House, while he corrected some facts which had been erroneously stated. He then went through the reports of the Committees, on which the charges were founded, and examined the different passages that concerned him. He justified himself in regard to all his acts, civil and political; and maintained that his whole conduct had been not only open and undisguised, but perfectly legal, and above all blame. On the principal charges, he read extracts of the Nabob's letter to him as President of the Select Committee, of the Committee's letter to the Directors, and finally of the Directors' letter containing their full approbation of his proceedings. He entered minutely into the circumstances of each charge, and observed that, trained in the school of war and politics as he had been for twenty years, he was now improving in the school of philosophy, and, if patience was a virtue, he had no doubt of soon being very virtuous indeed. He said that the present charges arose out of the wretched state of the Company's affairs; the Directors and Government would willingly shift the blame from themselves. He enlarged on the misconduct of the Directors; and arraigned the unpardonable remissness of former administrations, in neglecting the affairs of India; that mismanagement abroad was founded on mismanagement at home. He pointed out the malevolence and artifice of his enemies, and the low and insidious means by which he had been assailed; that when he went out to India the last time, he had promised not to add a shilling to his fortune, directly or indirectly, and this engagement, he declared to God, he had religiously observed.
He complimented Lord North ironically on his vast abilities displayed in the bargain which he had driven with the Company: that he was the lion, the Company the jackal, or lion's provider: that he had already seized on three quarters of its prey; and no doubt the lion, next time that it returned hungry to its den, would seize the remaining quarter also. That he stood there an independent man, and would give Government every honourable assistance, where he thought them right; but further he would not go: that as to the Company, he lamented their situation: they had been long tampered with by quacks till, reduced to an absolute consumption, they had thrown themselves on Parliament, the only physician who could effect a cure. He said, that for two years past the Directors had kept the affairs of the Company a secret, while they feasted at taverns, and employed a man[198], whom they allowed 400l. a year, to think for them: that meanwhile their expenses in India were increasing extravagantly beyond what they were when he left it. He complained that the malevolence employed against him, reduced him to the necessity of being the herald of his own fame. "I have served my country and the Company faithfully; and had it been my fortune to be employed by the Crown, I should not have been in the situation I am in at present; I should have been differently rewarded: no retrospect would have been had to sixteen years past, and I should not have been forced to plead for what is dearer than life—my reputation. My situation, Sir, has not been an easy one for these twelve months past; and though my conscience never could accuse me, yet I felt for my friends, who were involved in the same censure as myself. Sir, not a stone has been left unturned, where the least probability could arise of discovering something of a criminal nature against me. The two Committees, Sir, seem to have bent the whole of their inquiries to the conduct of their humble servant, the Baron of Plassey, and I have been examined by the Select Committee more like a sheep-stealer than a member of this House. I am sure, Sir, if I had any sore places about me, they would have been found; they have probed to the bottom: no lenient plasters have been applied to heal: no, Sir, they were all of the blister kind, prepared with Spanish flies and other provocatives. The public records have been ransacked for proofs against me; and the late Deputy Chairman of the India Company, a worthy member of this House, has been very assiduous, indeed so assiduous in my affairs, that really, Sir, it appears that he has entirely neglected his own. As for punishments, which have been spoken of as necessary, I have a plan to propose which I think may be of great use. The three Jacobite heads which were lately upon Temple Bar have tumbled down, but the poles remain; and as there is no probability of the heads being replaced, for Jacobitism seems at an end, (at least some people have strangely altered their opinions of late years,) there can be no farther occasion for them on that score: now, I would propose that the heads of three East Indians be stuck up in their stead, in terrorem, and that my head, by way of pre-eminence, be put in the middle; and as his Majesty has given me a title to supporters, I cannot pitch upon more proper ones than the heads of the late Chairman and Deputy to be placed one on each side, on the other two poles."
He next examined the regulations proposed by Ministers for India, and the measures of the Directors; and asserted that they had improvidently, in a country peculiarly liable to temptation, abolished all the lawful rewards of the service, and left the country at the mercy of a handful of boys. He proceeded to examine the question of presents. He had always recommended, approved of, and enforced the covenants against them. He considered these covenants as indispensable in the present state of the country, when we were its rulers; but even then, to render them efficient, the public servants must have within their view the prospect of an honourable and attainable independence. Wealth and weakness can never safely be placed beside poverty and power. As for presents in themselves, he was firmly of opinion that, in honourable cases, it was not improper to receive them: that they were only improper in dishonourable cases: that presents had been allowed to be received from the earliest days of the Company; they had been received uninterruptedly for the space of a hundred and fifty years, and by men who sat in the Direction; they were a lawful part of the social system of the East. "In the early part of my life," he continued, "my labours were without emolument or laurels; and I hope the House cannot think that I ought not to be rewarded for my services to my country in the latter part of it. When I was first employed by the Company, their affairs abroad were in a condition much to be lamented. Misfortunes attended them in every part of their settlements, and the Nabobs looked with a jealous eye upon the small privileges and possessions they then enjoyed; though small, in danger everyday of being wrested from them. Their fears and weakness were surrounded by dangers on every side. In this critical situation it pleased God to make me the instrument of their deliverance." He drew a rapid and bold sketch of his transactions in India, in particular of his proceedings in regard to Suraj-u-Dowlah and Omichund: he asserted that the former was dethroned for his breach of faith, and as a necessary and lawful measure of self defence; that the latter was only entangled in the toils of intrigue and treachery woven by himself: that Admiral Watson expressed his thorough approbation of the proceedings in the revolution, and the means by which it was obtained; and he read the letter signed by him in conjunction with the Committee to that effect: that, great as his fortune was, it bore no proportion to what he might have made it: that not a sixpence was received from the inhabitants of Moorshedabad, who came to offer contributions to deliver them from being plundered by a victorious army: that his jaghire was not received in 1757, at the time of the revolution, as had been erroneously represented; it was not received till 1759, two years after. He described his attack on the Dutch armament, which he destroyed, as well as their army, and that at a time when most of his property was in the hands of the Dutch Company; a fact that showed no want of zeal for the honour and interest of the service, even at the imminent risk of ruin to his own fortune. He enumerated the marks of honour which he had received: he read the letters of the Court of Directors in approbation of the revolution, and of his conduct in it. "These, Sir," he exclaimed, "are surely sufficient certificates of my behaviour, and of the proceedings of that revolution; and, whatever the House may think of them, will remain an everlasting approbation of my conduct from those persons who alone employed me, and whose servant I was. A late Minister (Lord Chatham), whose abilities have been an honour to his country, and whom this House will ever revere, will, I am sure, come to your bar, and not only tell you how highly he thought of my services at the time, but also what his opinion is now."
He adverted to his second government, undertaken at the express desire of the Company; the toils and difficulties he had to encounter, and which he overcame; and the thanks and congratulations solemnly lavished upon him, in a special audience appointed for the express purpose, at Leadenhall Street, on his return. "These, Sir," said he, "were circumstances, certainly, that gave me a full satisfaction, and a ground to think that my conduct in every instance was approved of. After such certificates as these, Sir, am I to be brought here like a criminal, and the very best parts of my conduct construed into crimes against the state? Is this the reward that is now held out to persons who have performed such important services to their country? If it is, Sir, the future consequences that will attend the execution of any important trust committed to the persons who have the care of it, will be fatal indeed; and I am sure the Noble Lord upon the Treasury Bench, whose great humanity I revere, would never have consented to the resolution that passed the other night, if he had thought on the dreadful consequences that would attend them. Sir, I cannot say that I either sit or rest easy when I find, by that extensive resolution, that all I have in the world is confiscated, and that no one will take my security for a shilling. These, Sir, are dreadful apprehensions to remain under; and I cannot look upon myself but as a bankrupt. I have not any thing left that I can call my own, except my paternal fortune of 500l. per annum, and which has been in the family for ages past. But upon this I am content to live; and perhaps I shall find more real content of mind and happiness than in the trembling affluence of an unsettled fortune. But, Sir, I must make one more observation,—that if the definition of the honourable gentleman (Colonel Burgoyne) and of this House, that the state, as expressed in these resolutions, is, quoad hoc, the Company, then, Sir, every farthing I enjoy is granted to me. But to be called upon, after sixteen years have elapsed, to account for my conduct in this manner, and, after an uninterrupted enjoyment of my property, to be questioned, and considered as obtaining it unwarrantably, is hard indeed! and a treatment I should not think the British Senate capable of. But, if such should be the case, I have a conscious innocence within me that tells me my conduct is irreproachable. Frangas, non flectes. My enemies may take from me what I have; they may, as they think, make me poor, but I will be happy! I mean not this as my defence, though I have done for the present. My defence will be heard at that bar; but, before I sit down, I have one request to make to the House,—that, when they come to decide upon my honour, they will not forget their own."
After some debate, the farther consideration of the motion was deferred, and it was ordered that evidence should be heard at the bar.
On the 21st of May, on the motion of Colonel Burgoyne, certain witnesses were examined. Lord Clive's evidence before the Committee was read; on which his Lordship made a short speech, concluding with the words, "Take my fortune, but save my honour," and immediately retired from the House.
The three propositions which had been carried by Colonel Burgoyne, on the 10th of May, though plainly, and by direct inference, affecting, and even aimed at, Lord Clive, had, however, been couched in loose general terms. Certain principles being given, and the existence of some abuses not disputed, certain consequences inevitably followed. The House was sensible, from the Reports, and from other sources, that great enormities had been committed in India; and, desirous to show its disapprobation and censure, willingly suffered itself to be led to acquiesce in these resolutions. But when, leaving generalities, Colonel Burgoyne called upon them to mark an individual as being concerned in, and indeed as the guilty leader in these offences, the ground was changed. They were brought back from generalities to special facts and to individuals, and found the necessity of proceeding cautiously in their conclusions. The generous feelings which in the one case had combated in favour of the motions, were now silent, or even enlisted on the side of the accused. A careful and cautious examination of facts and of character was necessary; and inquiry showed that the evidence was loose and defective, for the most part exparte, and often depending on circumstances of time, country, or situation that changed its nature. The man attacked was one of the most illustrious of his age, who by his exalted talents had raised himself, early in life, to the highest rank in his nation; whose gallant deeds in the field of battle every Englishman had admired and gloried in; who had retrieved the falling fortunes of his country, and, by his military achievements and his political talents, had added to its dominion a large empire, one of the richest in the world, which that country had not thrown from her with disdain, as gained by illegal or unjustifiable means, but cherished as one of her noblest possessions, the richest jewel in the British crown; that wealth which he had gained, he had enjoyed with honour and dignity, unchallenged for sixteen years, though now it was to be wrenched from him by the application of rules which had no existence in the country in which it was acquired. Doubts began to arise, whether a grand injustice was not about to be inflicted by England on one of the greatest and noblest of her sons: the circumstances of personal excitement under which the evidence had been collected could not be overlooked; and the more carefully the application of that evidence was made to the case, on the principles of general justice and universal policy, the more did it appear that there was a danger of making the British Parliament the instrument of flagrant injustice and ingratitude.
When the question itself came on, and the direct charges brought against Lord Clive were before the House, Mr. Stanley moved that the words, "And in so doing, the said Robert Lord Clive abused the powers with which he was intrusted, to the evil example of the servants of the public, and to the dishonour and detriment of the State," should be omitted; and was seconded by Mr. Richard Fuller, who carried his amendment farther back into the body of the motion, and proposed that the words, "through the influence of the powers with which he was intrusted, as a Member of the Select Committee, and Commander-in-chief of the British forces," should also be omitted. A very warm and long debate ensued between those who supported the original motion, and those who were in favour of the amendment, expressive of mere undisputed facts, which left the motion in this form: "That it appears to this House, that the Right Honourable Robert Lord Clive, Baron of Plassey in the kingdom of Ireland, about the time of the deposition of Suraj-u-Dowlah, and the establishment of Meer Jaffier on the musnud, did obtain and possess himself of 2 lacs of rupees as Commander-in-chief, a further sum of 2 lacs and 80,000 rupees as Member of the Select Committee, and a further sum of 16 lacs or more under the denomination of a private donation; which sums, amounting together to 20 lacs and 80,000 rupees, were of the value, in English money, of 234,000l." And the motion, in this form, was finally carried, on a division of 155 to 95.[199]