"Mr. Stuart informs me, that he has sent your Lordship a letter he received from the gentleman[203] who has the care of the Duke of Hamilton at Geneva, expressing the desire that Voltaire has to be informed of the affairs of the East Indies, and to celebrate the great actions that have been done there.
"I took the precaution of desiring Mr. Clive to load his trunk with the most important papers that are printed on that subject; but it has occurred to me, that he would deliver them with a better effect if they were introduced by a few lines from your Lordship, or, at least, a written message to the old gentleman. I don't know whether Mr. King is at Walcot: he would be delighted to have an occasion of addressing his favourite author on this subject. Lady Clive, I am afraid, will scruple at a correspondence with so free a writer; but, whatever mischief his works may do for a better state, in this world they are very entertaining: and that justice, which is everywhere your due to fame, will have a very good effect in England, coming from the pen of a Frenchman, writing at the foot of the Alps.
"I have seen no creature but lawyers for a fortnight past, and I know no news. Robert desires I would make his apology to your Lordship, for suffering himself to be seduced by me, to give me one day at Mitcham, which I am sure you will forgive. Mrs. W. joins me in compliments to Lady Clive and Miss Ducarrel; and I am,
"My dear Lord,
"Yours most sincerely,
"Al. Wedderburn.
"Lincoln's Inn Fields,
"9th July, 1773."
The result of this application from the most celebrated writer of the age does not appear. Several letters to Lord Clive, written from different parts of Europe, from foreigners, the posterity of the present age, some of them from persons quite unknown to him, show how widely his fame had spread over the Continent.
Immediately on the rising of Parliament in June, the state of his health carried him to Bath. After a short residence there and at Walcot, he was advised again to visit the Continent. While in London he was consulted by Ministers; and, though he believed that he had cause to complain of the conduct of Lord North in the late transactions, he was still willing, when called upon, to give him his opinion on Indian concerns. Indeed, during the whole course of his life, he was ever most ready and forward to communicate freely the full stores of his experience and reflection, not only to the Court of Directors, but to every administration that he imagined to be disposed to avail themselves of them. He had, in the preceding year, imparted to the Ministry his plan for improving the management of the Company's affairs, both in India and Europe; and by a letter of Lord North's to his Lordship, of the 9th of November this year, soliciting his interest in favour of Mr. Manship, in an India House election, it appears that Lord Clive had met him just before at Bushy Park, and given his sentiments in conversation on the important question of the instructions proper to be given to the Governor-General and Council of Bengal, who had been recently appointed by the Act of Parliament.
The fatigues of two anxious and exhausting sessions had not improved his health, so shattered before. How long he remained abroad does not appear. During the subsequent session, as all attempts to fix upon him any act of criminality during his first government of Bengal had totally failed, some feeble and malignant efforts were made, through the public papers, to throw suspicion on his conduct during his last administration there. But they were too miserable to be persisted in, or to produce any effect; and were only the last dregs of enmity, meant, perhaps, less to answer their apparent object than to vex and harass the sensitive feelings of a noble mind.[204]
During the remainder of 1773, and in the following year, which was the last of his life, he seems to have very much relaxed in the frequency of his epistolary correspondence. But it is a characteristic of his native warmth of attachment, and steady regard for his friends, that a great proportion of the letters written during that period consists of recommendatory letters. Some of them contain instances of very earnest and active exertions in behalf of those whom he befriended. He seems, in particular, to have used great exertions to procure the government of Bombay for General Carnac; and one letter, written only six weeks before his death, is addressed to Lord North, to forward the interest of his friend Mr. Strachey.