If the opinion of those whom he governed can have any weight in forming our judgment, it is certain that by the natives of India, no incurious observers of character, and who felt the influence of his virtues or defects, he was held in the highest respect and reverence. They admired his success in war, and during his government enjoyed all the ease and security, which it is the first object of government to bestow. Every attempt at oppression or injustice he checked with inexorable firmness. There were indeed complaints heard, but they were the complaints, not of natives who suffered, but of his countrymen, whom his vigour restrained within the limits of justice and right.
His habits in the field were those of a soldier, and simple. Fond of rapid marches and bold attacks, he was an enemy to those incumbrances of needless baggage which so often impede the operations of armies. He shared in the hardships of his soldiers, and was much among them. He trusted for respect, even among the natives of the East, who are supposed to worship pomp, not to parade, but to the splendour diffused around him by his exploits and his renown. The translator of the Seir Mutaqherin, himself a Frenchman, draws a lively contrast between his habits, and those of the justly celebrated Bussy, who, probably on system, adopted a different course. "M. de Bussy," says he, "always wore embroidered clothes, or brocade, with an embroidered hat; and, in days of ceremony, embroidered shoes of black velvet. He was seen in an immense tent, full sufficient for six hundred men, of about thirty feet in elevation; at one end of this tent he sat on an arm-chair, embroidered with the king's arms, placed upon an elevation, which last was covered by a crimson carpet of embroidered velvet: at his right, but upon back chairs only, sat a dozen of his officers. Over against him, his French guard on horseback, and behind these, his Turkish guards; his table, always in plate, was served with three, often with four services. To this French magnificence he added all the parade and pageant of Hindoostany manners and customs, a numerous set of tents, a pish-qhana; always on an elephant himself, as were all his officers. He was preceded by chopdars on horseback, and by a set of musicians, singing his feats of chivalry, with always two head-chopdars reciting his eulogium. Colonel Clive always wore his regimentals in the field, was always on horseback, and never rode in a palanquin; he had a plentiful table, but no ways delicate, and never more than two services. He used to march mostly at the head of the column, with his aid-de-camps, or was hunting at the right and left. He never wore silks but in town."[210]
It is to be regretted that, after his return to England, he was induced to enter into the disputes of the India House. They could hardly, in any case, have proved satisfactory; and they certainly, in their consequences, served to embitter his life. Yet it may be said that it was difficult for one who had acted so distinguished a part in the affairs of the Company, at once to renounce all active concern in them; and that he had a natural desire, both to assist in some degree in the management of affairs which he was so well qualified to direct, and to promote, by his influence, the interest of his friends. The parliamentary influence which he acquired must have been very considerable. It would seem that it extended, in different degrees, to Shropshire, Montgomery, Radnor, Monmouth, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Bishops-Castle, Ludlow, Pontefract, to Clare in Ireland, and probably to several other places.
In his politics, though a warm admirer of Lord Chatham, he was a steady adherent of his friend Mr. George Grenville, and of moderate Whig principles. He seldom spoke in the House, except on Indian affairs, and especially in justification of his own conduct. From the few specimens of his speeches that have been preserved, it would appear that they were full of matter, closely argumentative, bold, manly, and energetic. He seems to have acquired more ease in the management and expression of his ideas than could have been expected from one whose previous pursuits had been so different: his power lay in strong facts and decided principles, plainly but vigorously expressed. Mr. Beaufoy informs us, that "when the attack upon his conduct had called into action the powers of his mind, his eloquence was such as has not been often surpassed."[211] One who knew him, speaking of the same period, says, "Not long after this event I was fortunate enough to meet the great Lord Chatham at the chase, near Bonnet, and to hear him declare that Lord Clive's speech on that subject was one of the most finished pieces of eloquence he had ever heard in the House of Commons." It was the natural eloquence of a powerful mind thrown into motion by unworthy accusations, of a man who was master of his subject, eager to persuade, and who used the simplest words to express the strongest ideas.
In private life he was much beloved, and possessed the warm affection of a wide circle of friends, many of whom had been deeply indebted to his generosity; for no man ever employed a princely fortune with more liberality. He was steady in his attachments, and seldom lost a friend; Mr. Vansittart, who was sore harassed between his friendship for Clive and his connection with Mr. Sulivan, is perhaps the only instance of consequence. As he was a steady friend, he was a resolute enemy, but without vindictiveness. His gift of 70,000l. for the support of officers and men invalided in the Company's service in India, must rank among the noblest of living benefactions.
"His person," we are told, "was of the largest of the middle size; his countenance inclined to sadness, and the heaviness of his brow imparted an unpleasing expression to his features. It was a heaviness that arose, not from the prevalence of the unsocial passions (for of these few men had a smaller share), but from a natural fulness in the flesh above the eyelid. His words were few, and his manner among strangers was reserved. Yet it won the confidence of men, and gained admission to the heart. Among his intimate friends he had great pleasantry and jocoseness, and on some occasions was too open."[212]
By his wife, Margaret Maskelyne, he left Edward, the present Earl of Powis, born March 7. 1754; Rebecca, born September 15. 1760; Charlotte, born January 15. 1762; Margaret, born August 15. 1763, and Robert, born August 31. 1769.
At the time of his death he was Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the counties of Salop and of Montgomery, Major-General in the East Indies, and representative in Parliament for the town of Shrewsbury. He was a member of the Royal Society, and had been honoured with the degree of Doctor of Laws.
India has produced many illustrious men both in his time and since; but none of them has yet obscured or equalled the fame of Clive.
Before concluding, it may be proper to say a few words as to his views of Indian policy; and it is not to be forgotten, that whatever he undertook during his residence in India, he effected. It is much to be regretted, that his health drove him out of the country, when he had nearly made up his mind to remain there another year; a period, short as it was, in which he might have done much to consolidate and give effect to the system which he had established. The state of the European population, eager to be rich, and fretting under every restraint placed on their cupidity, required a hand as firm and steady as his to keep it in check. It has, indeed, been affirmed, that he had no capacity for a comprehensive scheme, including any moderate anticipation of the future. This assertion seems to have been hazarded on very inadequate grounds. He made many communications at various times to the Ministry and to the Court of Directors. These, though chiefly confined to the local and temporary objects for which they were asked, to plans for remedying defects in the civil or military establishments, as they were felt, show no deficiency in comprehensive views, but are full of the deepest observation. It may be safely affirmed, that the views of no statesman of the times (if we except Burke, who is an exception to every thing,) contain more political and practical foresight directed to Indian affairs. And a proof of this is, that many of the plans which he at that early period proposed, have since been gradually adopted. He did not conceal his opinion either from his friends or in Parliament, that he saw no public body either in England or India duly competent to the administration of our concerns in the East. He early came to a conclusion that "the charters granted for the guidance of a limited company of merchants, could not be adequate to the government of an extensive empire."[213] At the same time, he justly regarded the British Ministry, the Court of Directors, and the Court of Proprietors, as all of them profoundly ignorant of Indian concerns, and as being, from their composition, devised for totally different objects, very unfit to direct them. These elements, however, could not be got rid of, and it was evident that any plan proposed must include them as a portion of it. He always contended, that the first step towards an improved management of our concerns in India must be a reform at home, in the constitution of the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors. He proposed some changes, not because they were sufficient, but because they were practicable, and suggested that the Directors, instead of being changed annually, should remain in office for several years; and that the business, instead of coming on in the first instance before all, should be arranged in small Committees. He suggested, that two of the Directors should be appointed by the Crown, an idea in which we see the germ of the Board of Control. In India, he saw that Councils of sixteen equals, were hot-beds of dissension, rendered the satisfactory transaction of business impossible, and responsibility null, by diffusing it. He conceived, that a Council of not more than five persons was infinitely preferable; that the Government of Bengal should, in cases of exigency, have the power of issuing orders to the Governments of the other Presidencies; and that in certain cases the President should have the power, on his own responsibility, of acting contrary to the opinion of his Council: the higher classes of English, those concerned in the government, and at the head of departments, he wished to restrain from trade altogether, and to pay them ample allowances; to this purpose he would have devoted the proceeds of the Salt-tax, for such in reality, under another name, were the gains of the Society of Trade: if their large salaries did not make them honest, they at least left no pretence for dishonesty, and turned more strongly against them the moral feelings of their judges: the Company's civil servants he did not wish to employ in the lower details of the financial or judicial establishments: he was earnestly bent on changing as little of the native institutions as possible; to do at least no harm; to govern India by Indians; to leave things as they were till we saw our way, reserving for the English only the reins of government, the general superintendence, a controlling and directing power, and the command of the military force. The system which he found, and under which, as all Europeans then on the spot agreed, the country had reached a degree of prosperity hardly to be equalled elsewhere in the East, he wished to retain. In regard to the revenue, a matter of so much practical consequence to the happiness of every country, he held that the taxes were not to be extended beyond the state in which we found them, without the greatest caution; he suggested that Government should grant leases of land, to prevent the exactions to which the ryots were exposed in the laying on of the annual impost. To the natives he wished to leave the internal trade, confining the English to the foreign import and export trade, as formerly: he was anxious that the natives should have the entire management of their own concerns, undisturbed as far as possible by the intrusion of Europeans, whose misconduct, which in many instances had been carried to a grievous excess, there was at that time no judicial or political machinery for keeping in order. He did not, however, adopt the wild idea of introducing English laws into a country for which they had never been framed. With more wisdom than has even yet been shown by the Legislature, he recommended that the Company should be authorised to send out an Attorney-General with some able lawyers, (not certainly, however, the most proper persons, especially if a majority,) to new model and regulate the Courts of Justice, and that, with the assistance of the Governor-General and Council, they should form a system of regulations proper for our settlements, pointing out the defects that existed, as well as the proper remedies. He concluded with perfect truth, "that the attempt to introduce the English laws throughout our possessions in India would be absurd and impracticable." He foresaw, from the spirit of the times, that expense was the rock on which the Government was likely to split, and used every means in his power to raise barriers against it. It was partly this which made him recommend that we should confine ourselves to a rich but limited territory, a small army, and few but well-paid English servants, and not plunge into the wide sea of Indian politics. He foretold, that if every thing was to be done directly by Company's servants, and if the expenses of fortifications and cantonments continued on the extravagant scale then in operation, the revenues of India, far from affording a surplus to be conveyed to England, would not long suffice even to support our various establishments on the spot. His predictions were soon verified; though there was but an inconsiderable change in the amount of the actual revenue, yet the expenses of the army, of buildings, fortifications, commissariat of every department, joined to the ill-conducted wars at Madras, had, in the course of a few years, increased so much, that the large free produce which he had left was totally absorbed. Indeed, such is the natural course of human affairs; and the only question is, whether even an energy like his, could have rendered possessions so distant permanently productive. He saw the means of defending our possessions against the native powers, by well-timed attention to their operations; but the French, a more formidable enemy, had only recently lost their Indian possessions, and he looked forward to more imminent danger from their designs, especially if by their means the resistance, then only threatened in America, became successful: for that America, he observes, will sooner or latter become independent, there can be no question[214]: an observation which, in 1772, when both the Government and the nation looked upon any resistance to be made by the Americans as futile, evinced no common sagacity.