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 Lord Clive.The toundation of British rul 
 
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 0t> 
 
 BUILDERS OF 
 GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Edited by H. F. WILSON, M.A. 
 
 Barrister-at-Laiv 
 
 Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 
 
 Legal Assistant at the Colonial O^ce 
 
 DEDICATED BY SPECIAL 
 PERMISSION TO HER 
 MAJESTY THE QUEEN 
 
BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 I. SIR WALTER RALEGH ; the British Dominion of 
 the West. By MARTIN A. S. HUME. 
 
 ■^. SIR THOMAS MAITLAND ; the Mastery of the 
 Mediterranean. By Walter Frewen Lord. 
 
 3. JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT; the Discovery of 
 
 North America. By C. RAYMOND Beazley, M.A. 
 
 4. EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD; the Coloni- 
 
 zation of South Australia and New Zealand. By 
 R. Garnett, C.B., LL.D. 
 
 5. LORD CLIVE; the Foundation of British Rule in 
 
 India. By Sir A. J. Arbuthnot, K.C.S.I. CLE. 
 
 6. RAJAH BROOKE ; the Englishman as Ruler of an 
 
 Eastern State. By Sir SpENSER St John , G. C. M. G. 
 
 7. ADMIRAL PHILLIP; the Founding of New South 
 
 Wales. By Louis Becke and Walter Jeffery. 
 
 8. SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES ; England in the Far 
 
 East. By the Editor. 
 
Builders 
 
 of 
 
 Greater Britain 
 
 LORD.CLIVE 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF BRITISH RULE IN 
 INDIA 
 
 Sir ALEXANDER JOHN ARBUTHNOT 
 
 IC.C.S.I. and CLE. 
 Lately a Me-mher of the Council of India 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 A MEMOIR OF SIR THOMAS MUNRO 
 
 NEW YORK 
 LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. 
 91' AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE 
 1899 
 

 ^v \ ^ %^c^ 5- 
 
 ^^ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 If Sir Walter Ralegh, as Mr Martin Hume 
 described him in the volume with which the 
 present series began, was the man who laid 
 the foundation stone of the Colonial Empire 
 of Great Britain, Clive may be called with 
 not less truth, in the words of Sir Alfred 
 Lyall, ' the man to whom above all others 
 the English are indebted for the foundation 
 of our Empire in India.' 
 
 There have been few men who have so 
 rapidly established such a reputation as was 
 achieved by Clive very shortly after he had 
 reached his twenty-sixth year. The son of a 
 small and impoverished country squire, belong- 
 ing to a family which, although old, had never 
 previously been distinguished, Robert Clive in 
 a remarkably short time won for it a name 
 second to none in the history of the world. 
 
 It is the object of this brief memoir to show 
 how this came about, to describe the salient 
 points in Clive's career, and to explain how 
 entirely it was owing to Clive that the place 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 now filled by the British Raj in India was not 
 occupied in the middle of the last century by 
 the French. 
 
 Landing in India in September 1744, Clive 
 in little more than five years, by his remark- 
 able defence of Arcot, had proved himself an 
 able soldier, and in less than a year and a half 
 later was able to return to England recognised 
 by his immediate masters, the Directors of the 
 East India Company, as the one man in their 
 service most fitted to be entrusted with high 
 military command. In a very few years more 
 it was felt, not only in India and by persons 
 interested in and acquainted with Indian affairs, 
 but by English statesmen as well, by such men 
 as the elder Pitt, by George Grenville and 
 others, that the talents of the young soldier 
 were by no means confined to the camp, but 
 that he was as able in council as he was skilful 
 in strategy and daring in fight. 
 
 And when we reflect upon his death at the 
 early age of forty-nine, after a persecution 
 which, whatever may have been his errors, it 
 is difiicult to read of without shame, we can 
 hardly avoid the conclusion that of the many 
 sad and discreditable incidents which, in this 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 and other countries, disfigured the latter part 
 of the eighteenth century, one of the not least 
 deplorable was the attack made by his country- 
 men upon the founder of our Indian Empire. 
 
 Regarding Clive's career, opinions of the 
 most diverse kinds have been and still are 
 entertained. According to James Mill, the 
 leading historian of British India, Clive was 
 artful, tricky and exceedingly quarrelsome — 
 an opinion which is not, however, shared by 
 Mill's annotator, Horace Hayman Wilson. 
 And strange to say, when dealing with the 
 Parliamentary proceedings against Clive, Mill 
 denounces them in language which might have 
 been used by Clive's warmest supporters. 
 
 Marshman, an essentially fair writer, bears a 
 high tribute to Clive's lofty genius, and de- 
 nounces the ingratitude which embittered the 
 closing years of his life. 
 
 Clive's first biographer, Caraccioli, appears to 
 have written for the sole purpose of attacking 
 him both in his public and in his private life. 
 
 Sir John Malcolm, on the other hand, defends 
 almost every , incident of his career, including 
 the fictitious treaty with Omichand. 
 
 Of the two more recent memoirs, that by the 
 
xiv PREFACE 
 
 /late Colonel Malleson, while doing ample justice 
 to Clive's genius and services, dwells unduly, 
 as I think, upon what he describes as Clive's 
 baser nature, and upon the defects of his early 
 training and the disastrous influence on his 
 subsequent career, of his idleness and wildness 
 as a schoolboy. That Clive as a schoolboy 
 was idle and somewhat wild may be freely 
 admitted, but it must not be forgotten that 
 one of his masters predicted with remarkable 
 foresight that he would rise to eminence, and 
 that the use which he made of the Governor's 
 library at Madras is hardly consistent with the 
 theory that when he attained to manhood his 
 mind was in the absolutely uncultured condi- 
 tion which Colonel Malleson attributed to him. 
 The adjective ' base ' is the last that should be 
 used in reference to Clive. He was doubtless 
 at times unscrupulous, but what he did he never 
 attempted to conceal, nor was there anything 
 in his conduct or his character to which the 
 term ' base ' could fitly be applied. I believe 
 that most students of Clive's life would greatly 
 prefer the opinion of Sir Charles Wilson, who, 
 writing eight years later than Colonel Malleson, 
 ends a memoir, of which the Interest Is only 
 
PREFACE XV 
 
 equalled by the care and accuracy which have 
 been brought to bear upon it, by affirming 
 that ' among the many illustrious men whom 
 India has produced, none is greater than the 
 first of her soldier-statesmen, whose successful 
 career marks an era in the history of England 
 and of the world.' 
 
 There is one question in connection with this 
 biography which perhaps may not unreasonably 
 be asked. While so many Lives of Clive have 
 been published, the last only eight years ago, 
 what is the need of another.' It certainly 
 cannot be said that any new facts have been 
 discovered which would justify the publication 
 of another Life of Clive. The answer is, and 
 I think it is a sufficient answer, that a series 
 which deals with the Builders of Greater Britain 
 would be obviously incomplete if it did not 
 include a memoir of the man who gave to 
 England her greatest dependency. 
 
 It should be mentioned that at some points 
 the [present memoir closely follows the com- 
 paratively brief article on Clive which I con- 
 tributed eleven years ago to the Dictionary 
 of National Biography, although a very large 
 portion of it consists of entirely new matter. 
 
xvi PREFACE 
 
 The two principal speeches made by Clive 
 during the Parliamentary enquiry, which are 
 no longer available in a form accessible to the 
 public, have been reprinted in this volume. 
 
 The best acknowledgments of the Editor 
 and myself are due to the Earl of Powis for his 
 permission to reproduce the portrait of Lord 
 Clive at Powis Castle as a frontispiece, to Mr 
 Lionel Cust, Director of the National Portrait 
 Gallery, for his advice in connection there- 
 with, and to Mr A. Story-Maskelyne of the 
 Public Record Office, for assistance kindly 
 rendered with regard to the two pedigrees 
 which form Appendices IV. and V., and have 
 been carefully compiled from printed sources. 
 In preparing the maps, which are founded 
 upon two of those by Juland Danvers, 
 appended to Vol. VI. of Thornton's History 
 of the British Empire in India, valuable help 
 has been given by Mr Thomas, Assistant 
 Librarian, and Mr Foster of the Registry and 
 Record Department, at the India Office. 
 
 ALEX. J. ARBUTHNOT. 
 
 Newtown House, 
 Newbury, October 1898. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Early Youth — Appointment to a Writership in India — 
 Arrival at Madras — Distastefulness or His Work — 
 Outbreak of War — Capture of Madras by the French 
 — Escape of Clive to Fort St David — Clive's Duels — 
 Temporary Commission as Ensign — Attracts the Notice 
 of Stringer Lawrence, ..... 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle — Attitude of the English and 
 French in India towards the Native Rulers — The 
 Affair of D^vikota — Clive's Narrow Escape — He is 
 Permanently Transferred to the Military Service — 
 Conflict between English and French brought about 
 BY THE Ambition of Dupleix — Battle of Amb^ir — 
 Clive's Proposal to Seize Arcot, , . • . 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ■Clive's March to Arcot — Occupies the Fort — Another 
 Narrow Escape — Gallant Defence — Effect of His 
 Defence upon the Native Mind — Battle of KaveripXk, 
 xvii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Condition of Trichinopoly — Return or Lawbenci;, who 
 Assumes the Command— Clive sent to Samiavaeam in 
 Command of a Detachment— Clive's Strategy Success- 
 ful — He has more than One Hairbreadth Escape — 
 Surrender of Law's and D'Auteuil's Forces — Clive at 
 
 COVELONG AND ChINGLEPUT ClIVe's MaRRIAGE, . • 3' 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Clive returns to England — His Reception — Seeks but Fails 
 TO Enter Parliament — Applies for Re-employment in 
 India — Appointed Governor of Fort St David — Reaches 
 Bombay in October 1755 — Expedition to Gheriah- — 
 Clive Assumes His Government — Disputes between 
 Naval and Military Officers, . . .40- 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Clive Returns to Madras at a Critical Time — Tragedy 
 OF THE Black Hole — Clive and Watson ordered to 
 Bengal — Delay in Despatching the Expedition — Its 
 Arrival in the Hughli — Capture of Budge Budge — 
 Surrender of Calcutta — Watson's Perverse Obstinacy 
 — Presidential Jealousies — Capture of Hughli — Battle 
 ON 5th February near Calcutta — Treaty with the 
 Nawab, .....,, 46 
 
 CHAPTER Vll 
 
 Arrival of British Reinforcements — Capture of Chanderna- 
 GORE — Reasons for Clive remaining in Bengal — Plot 
 
 AGAINST the NawXb OVERTURES MADE BY MfR JafAR 
 
 Treaty with Omichand — A Real Treaty and a Sham 
 Treaty — Provisions of the Real Treaty — Watson's 
 Attitude in the Matter, . , . ,62 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PACE 
 
 Terms of the Treaties — Advance towards Plassey — Clive's 
 Letter to the NawXe — His Anxious Position — 
 Arrival at Katwa — Council of War — Clive Votes 
 FOR Delay — His Change of Mind — Arrival at Plassev 
 — Clive's Description of the Battle — Fate of SurXj 
 UD Daulah — Sequel of the Story of Omichand, . . 73 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Distribution of the Spoil — Clive*s Correspondence 
 with the Military Officers — His Letters to the 
 Committee at Calcutta — Death of Watson — State 
 of the Civil Service — Difficulties of MfR Jafar — 
 Jlicht^ put upon CLivE .^Bg~Caffl8X-I >F Directors — Jiis 
 SuBSEgu:yn'^AjpoiN™ENT_AS--Xlosiia{OR of Bengal — 
 
 THE^gJATTONRLAN THREATENED INVASION OF BENGAL 
 
 BY THE ShXhzXdA ClIVE's jAOfR, . . . . 90 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Northern Sirkars — Colonel Forde appointed to 
 Command Expedition against Masulipatam — The 
 Assault Successful — ' War with the Dutch — Clive's 
 Characteristic Letter — Clive's Failure to Secure the 
 Appointment of Forde to Command the Bengal Army 
 — Remarks on Decorations, .... 102 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Events in Madras — Clive's Unfavourable Opinion of the 
 Court of Directors — His Letter to the Elder Pitt 
 Advocating Transfer of the Government of India to 
 THE Crow^ — His Letter to the Court — He Returns 
 TO England, . . . . . '113 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Clivs's Arrival in England — His Cordial Reception — 
 Hostility of Sullivan — Clive attaches Himself to 
 George Grenville -;- Threat to Deprive Him of His 
 jAcfR — The Deposition of MfR Jafar — Succession of 
 KXsiM Ali Khan — Rapacity of the Council — War 
 WITH KXsiM Ali — Mir Jafar replaced on the Throne 
 — Invasion of Bengal by Navv'ab of Oudh — Battle of 
 BuxAR — Disorganised State of Bengal — Macaulay's 
 Description of It — Remarks of the Court of Directors 
 — Sir John Malcolm's Opinion — Clive Urged to Resume 
 Government of Bengal, . . . . .124 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Clive Returns to India for the Last Time — Death of MfR 
 Jafar — Succession of Nazim ud Daulah — Appointment 
 of Select Committee — Suspension of Certain Members 
 of the Council — Incompetency of the New Nawab — 
 Transfer of the Diwani to the Company, 145 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Official Salaries and Private Trade-^Lord Cornwallis's 
 Views — Discontent in the Civil Service — Mutiny in 
 THE Army — Double Batta — Conduct of Sir Robert 
 Fletcher — Suppression of the Mutiny — Court of Direc- 
 tors ON Clive's Last Administration — Olive's State or 
 Health — He takes Leave of His Colleagues, . , 161 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 Clive Leaves India for the Last Time — His Reception 
 BY the Court of Directors — The Question of His 
 jAGfR — Abandonment of the Proceedings against the 
 Dismissed Members of the Bengal Council — The Sub- 
 ordination OF THE Military to the Civil Powter 
 
CONTENTS xxi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Unsatisfactory Condition of Bengal — Appointment of 
 Commission of Supervisors, who Perished at Sea — 
 Famine of 1770 — Cartier succeeds Verelst, and is 
 
 SUCCEEDED BY WaRREN HASTINGS ClIVe's LeTTER TO 
 
 Hastings, .... . ■ 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Attacks upon Clive in the Pjiess — Proceedings in the House 
 OF Commons — Practical Acquittal of Clive — The Com- 
 mittee of Secrecy and its Results — The Regulating 
 Act of 1773 — The Strain upon Clive — His Death, . 197 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Remarkable Points in the Career of Clive — Clive's 
 Character — Inconsistencies in It — Mountstuaet El- 
 phinstone's Estimate of Clive — Public Ingratitude 
 Evinced towards Clive and His Three Greatest 
 Successors,. . . . . . 2Zi 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 Appendix I, — Lord Olive's Speech in the House of Commons 
 
 (30TH March 1772), ..... 231 
 
 Appendix II. — Lord Clive's Speech in the House of Commons 
 
 (19TH May 1773), ...... 287 
 
 Appendix III. — Mr Elphinstone's Estimate of Lord Clive . 297 
 
 Appendix IV. — Pedigree of Lord Clive, . . . 303 
 
 Appendix V. — Pedigree of Lady Clive, . . . 304 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Lord Clive, after the Portrait sy Nathaniel Dance, 
 
 AT Powis Castle, ..... Frontispiece 
 
 Map of India in 1744, shewing Extent of British 
 
 Occupation AT that Date, . . . to face page iz 
 
 Map of India in 1767, shewing British Acquisitions 
 
 AT that Date ..... to face page 174 
 
ERRATA 
 
 Page 78, line 8, delete 'of Oude.' 
 „ 103, „ 4,y»r 'Ganjam Vizagaputam,' r^tfi/'Ganjam, 
 
 Vizagapatam.' 
 „ 137) i> 9. d^^'t^ 'again.' 
 
 „ 141, ,, I2,y«r ' Mahommadan,V^<?i^ ' Muhammadan.' 
 „ 248, „ I, for ' Sujah ul Daulah,' read 'Sujah ud 
 
 Daulah.' 
 
Lord Clive 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YOUTH — APPOINTMENT TO A WRITERSHIP IN 
 
 INDIA ARRIVAL AT MADRAS DISTASTEFUL- 
 
 NESS OF HIS WORK OUTBREAK OF WAR 
 
 CAPTURE OF MADRAS BY THE FRENCH 
 
 ESCAPE OF CLIVE TO FORT ST DAVID 
 
 CLIVe's duels — ^ TEMPORARY COMMISSION AS 
 
 ENSIGN ATTRACTS THE NOTICE OF STRINGER 
 
 LAWRENCE. 
 
 Robert Clive was born at Styche, in the parish 
 of Moreton Say, near Market Drayton, in Shrop- 
 shire, on the 25th September 1725. He was the 
 eldest son of Richard Clive, the owner of Styche, a 
 small estate which the Clive family had possessed 
 ever since the reign of Henry VII.' The family was 
 by no means wealthy, and the father of the subject 
 of this memoir was obliged to supplement his in- 
 come by practising as a solicitor. Robert Clive's 
 mother was a daughter of Mr Nathaniel Gaskell, 
 
 ^ See Pedigree in Appendix IV. 
 A 
 
2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of Manchester, and one of her sisters was the wife 
 of Mr Daniel Bayley, of Hope Hall, Manchester, 
 at whose house Robert Clive spent several years 
 of his childhood. From a letter written by him 
 after his arrival in India, Clive would seem to 
 have cherished very pleasant recollections of this 
 Manchester home, which he described as 'the 
 centre of all his wishes,' and as 'a place which, if 
 he should be so blessed as to revisit it, all that he 
 could hope or desire would be presented before him 
 in one view.' 
 
 At a very early age he gave evidence of that 
 energy of disposition, combined with a certain 
 amount of combativeness, which distinguished him 
 in after life. Before he had completed his seventh 
 year, Mr Bayley, in a letter to his father, described 
 him as ' out of measure addicted to fighting.' In 
 his school days he was fonder of out-of-door pur- 
 suits than of study, although his studies cannot 
 have been entirely neglected, for one of his school- 
 masters, who kept a school at Lostock, in Cheshire, 
 predicted a brilliant career for him, observing that 
 ' if opportunity enabled him to exert his talents, 
 few names would be greater than his.' And later 
 on, after his arrival in India, he appears to have 
 devoted himself with some assiduity to repairing 
 the imperfections of his early training, by studying 
 the books which he was allowed to make use of 
 in the Governor's library in Madras. Still his 
 
LORD CLIVE 3 
 
 school life was not a studious one, and was more 
 remarkable for feats of courage than for success 
 in book learning. It must also have been more or^y 
 less interrupted by his frequent transfers from one 
 school to another. Beginning his education at 
 Lostock, he was removed at the age of eleven to a 
 school at Market Drayton, not far from his father's 
 home. Thence at the age of twelve he was sent 
 on to Merchant Taylors' in London, and was finally 
 trgjis£ewed_£Q_a private school at Hemel Hempstead, 
 where he remained until he was appointed in 1743, 
 at the age o f eighteen, to a wH^ rshig^gE-Ahe-^er-vice 
 of the East India Company at Madras. It is related 
 of him that on one occasion, when at Market Dray- 
 ton, he climbed the lofty steeple of the church, 
 and terrified the bystanders by seating himself upon 
 a stone spout in the form of a dragon's head which 
 projected from it near the top. About the same 
 time he appears to have been the leader of his 
 schoolfellows in boyish pranks, levying from the 
 shopkeepers in the town a species of blackmail, in 
 the form of coppers or apples, to induce him and 
 his companions to abstain from breaking their 
 windows and from other mischievous tricks. A 
 story is told of his having lain down in a gutter 
 while his companions were repairing a dam, which 
 he and they had made for the purpose of flooding 
 a small shop occupied by an unfriendly tradesman. 
 Whether similar practices were carried on by him 
 
4 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 at his other schools does not appear, but there can 
 be no doubt that, both as a boy and in early man- 
 /hood, he was impatient of control, though not 
 vicious, and by no means destitute of affection for 
 his family and friends. 
 
 Clive left England in the summer of 1743, and 
 did not reach Madras until late in 1744, after an 
 unusually protracted voyage, in the course of vi^hich 
 he was detained for nine months at Rio de Janeiro. 
 This detention led to his acquiring some slight 
 knowledge of the Portuguese language, which is 
 said to have been of use to him in after years in 
 India. It would seem, however, that he was not 
 an adept at learning foreign languages ; for not- 
 withstanding the great insight which he acquired 
 into the character of the natives of India, he does 
 not appear to have attained to any proficiency in 
 the native languages. The unforeseen expenses in 
 which he became involved owing to his enforced 
 stay in Brazil led to his arriving at Madras in debt 
 to the captain of the ship, who charged him a ' 
 usurious rate of interest. Altogether, his earlier J 
 experiences were by no means satisfactory. He 
 had taken out with him only one letter of intro- 
 duction, and the gentleman to whom it was 
 addressed had left India before he arrived. He 
 appears to have been constitutionally shy with 
 strangers, and consequently made no efforts to form 
 new acquaintances. Nor was his work in any way 
 
LORD CLIVE 5 
 
 congenial to his natural tastes. The duties attached 
 in those days to a writership in the East India 
 Company's service were very different from those 
 which devolve upon the covenanted Civil Servants 
 of the present day. The writer at that time was 
 merely the servant of a trading company ; his duties 
 were those of a clerk in a mercantile house. They 
 were extremely uncongenial to a youth of Clive's 
 temperament, nor was "it without difficulty that he 
 brought himself to submit to the orders of his 
 official superiors. More than once he incurred 
 censure for insubordination. In connection with this 
 point a characteristic story is told of him. He 
 was censured by the Governor for insolence to 
 a superior officer, and was ordered to make an 
 apology to the offended official. This he did ; 
 but when the same officer invited him to dinner, 
 Clive stiffly declined, observing that the Governor 
 had ordered him to apologise to, but not to dine 
 with him. His distaste for his work and surround- 
 ings was at this time such that on one occasion 
 he made an attempt upon his life, firing a pistol 
 at his head, which, however, missed fire twice. A 
 friend entering his room shortly afterwards, Clive 
 asked him to try the pistol, when the other suc- 
 ceeded in firing it. Thereupon Clive said, 'Surely 
 I must be reserved for something great, for I 
 have twice fired that pistol at my head, and it 
 would not go off.' 
 
6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 But Clive was not destined for prolonged employ- 
 ment at the desk. In the very year in which he 
 arrived at Madras, war was declared between England 
 and France. The French at that time possessed 
 more troops in India than the English, and were 
 the first, under Dupleix, the then Governor of 
 Pondicherry, to recruit natives of India for mili- 
 tary employment. But when war was declared in 
 Europe, Dupleix did not feel prepared for the struggle 
 in India, and endeavoured to induce the English 
 Governor of Madras to agree to neutralise the 
 Indian possessions of the two nations. This proposal 
 the Governor was precluded from accepting by his 
 instructions from home, and in 1746 Dupleix, taking 
 advantage of the absence of the British fleet from 
 the coast, ordered the French Admiral Labourdonnais, 
 who had arrived from Mauritius with a squadron 
 fitted out for the purpose, to attack Madras. The 
 town, which had no garrison worth the name, 
 surrendered on the 1 0th September 1746. The 
 English functionaries were all admitted to parole, 
 and the French Admiral entered into a private agree- 
 ment with the Governor for the restoration of the 
 place upon payment of a reasonable ransom. This 
 agreement, however, was disallowed by Dupleix, and 
 the English Governor and principal officials were 
 removed to Pondicherry, and marched through the 
 town as prisoners of war. Cliye^deeming that this 
 infraction of the terms upon which his parole had 
 
LORD CLIVE 7 
 
 been given released him from his obligations, in 
 company with his friend Edmund Maskelyne escaped 
 in jhe disguise. of^^uative to Jort. St Dayid, the 
 second English settlement on the coast, a few miles 
 south of Pondicherry. There he appears to have 
 passed some two years, nominally employed as a 
 writer, but during a part of the time at all events 
 taking his share with the garrison in repelling attacks 
 made upon the fort by the French. During this 
 time, having very little to do in the way of official 
 duty, he spent a good deal of his leisure at cards, and 
 while so occupied became involved in a duel with a 
 military officer whom he accused of cheating. The 
 incident, as- related in Malcolm's Life^ is characteristic. 
 Clive, having fired at, and missed, his antagonist, the 
 latter came close up to him, and holding his pistol to 
 his head, desired him to ask for his life, which Clive 
 did. His opponent then called upon him to retract 
 his assertions regarding unfair play, and on his refusal, 
 threatened to shoot him. ' Fire and be d — d,' was 
 Clive's reply. ' I said you cheated, and I say so still, 
 and I will never pay you.' Clive was much com- 
 plimented upon the spirit he had shown, but declined 
 to come forward' against the officer with whom he 
 had fought, and never afterwards willingly alluded to 
 the behaviour of the latter at the card table. 'He 
 has given me my life,' he said, 'and though I am 
 resolved on never paying money which was unfairly 
 won, or again associating with him, I shall never do 
 
8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 him an injury.' This incident forms the subject of. 
 Browning's poem ' Clive ' {Dramatic Idylls^ Second 
 Series, 1880), in which, however, the facts of the 
 case are stated somewhat differently, the poet omitting 
 all mention of the demand that Clive should beg for 
 his life and his compliance with it, and describing 
 the officer as having, under the spell of Clive's 
 undaunted courage, acknowledged the truth of the 
 accusation. 
 
 Later on, in 1748, when the English besieged 
 Pondicherry, after having been reinforced by a 
 squadron under Admiral Boscawen, a somewhat 
 similar incident occurred. Clive, having been granted 
 a temporary commission as ensign, served with the 
 force, and on several occasions distinguished himself 
 greatly by his bravery. On one of these, having left 
 his post for some minutes to bring up some ammuni- 
 tion, he became involved in an altercation with 
 another officer, who made a remark implying that 
 it was fear, and not zeal, which had induced him 
 to leave his post. In the course of the altercation 
 the officer struck Clive ; but a duel was prevented, 
 and a court-martial held, which resulted in Clive's 
 assailant being required to ask his pardon in front 
 of the battalion to which they both belonged; The 
 court, however, having taken no notice of the blow, 
 Clive, after the siege had been raised, insisted upon 
 satisfaction for that insult, and on its being refused, 
 waved his cane over the head of the offender, telling 
 
LORD CLIVE 9 
 
 him he was too contemptible a coward to be beaten. 
 The affair ended in the person who had defamed Clive 
 resigning his commission on the following day. 
 
 The biographers and historians who have dealt 
 with this portion of Clive's career differ considerably 
 in their estimate of his conduct on these occasions. 
 Mill, in his History of India, characterises Clive as 
 having been turbulent with his equals. Mr Gleig 
 blames his conduct in both these cases, alleging in 
 regard to his duel with the gambler that there was 
 nothing to admire about it except the headstrong 
 determination of the man who would rather submit to 
 be put to death than retract a word which he had 
 once uttered ; and with respect to the other case, 
 that there was no need, after the humiliation which 
 the other party had undergone, to force a dormant 
 quarrel upon him. Sir John Malcolm, on the other 
 hand, taking what seems to be a more just view of 
 the facts, and of the manners and customs of the time, 
 denies that any of these early disputes can be traced 
 to a perverse or quarrelsome temper. ' Clive appears 
 in all to have been the party offended — the resolute 
 manner in which he resented the injuries done to him 
 raised his reputation for courage, and protected him 
 from further insult and outrage.' 
 
 The siege of Pondicherry proved to be a failure, 
 and Clive was again employed upon civil duties. 
 During the operations, however, he distinguished 
 himself more than once by his gallantry and by his 
 
lo BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 judgment, and it was there that he attracted the 
 notice of Major Stringer Lawrence, who, having 
 been recently appointed to the command of the 
 Company's forces, conducted the earlier stages of 
 the siege, in the course of which he was unfortun- 
 ately taken prisoner. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE ATTITUDE OF THE 
 
 EN^GLISH AND FRENCH IN INDIA TOWARDS 
 
 THE NATIVE RULERS THE AFFAIR OF oivi- 
 
 KOTA olive's NARROW ESCAPE HE IS PER- 
 MANENTLY TRANSFERRED TO THE MILITARY 
 
 SERVICE CONFLICT BEWEEN ENGLISH AND 
 
 FRENCH BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE AMBITION 
 OF DUPLEIX — BATTLE OF AMBUR CLIVE's PRO- 
 POSAL TO SEIZE ARCOT. 
 
 In 1748 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which provided 
 for the restoration of Madras to the English, put a 
 stop for a time to further hostilities between the 
 English and French in India. A few months later, 
 however, circumstances occurred which induced 
 Clive again to enter military employment. Before 
 narrating these events, it may be well to say a few 
 words as to what was at that time the position of 
 
12 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the English and French in India in relation to the 
 native sovereigns. These rulers were headed by the 
 Emperor of Delhi, commonly known as the Great 
 Moghul, but more correctly designated as the 
 Pddishah, who was nominally the supreme over- 
 lord of the countries then called India, but whose 
 real power was extremely limited. When Clive 
 arrived at Madras in 1744, only five years had 
 elapsed since the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah.\ 
 The Moghul authority had then received its death- 
 blow. In South India it was extinct in the prin- , 
 cipalities of Tanjore, Madura and Mysore, which 
 were held by rulers of the Mahratta race. The 
 Nizam of Hyderabad, or Subahddr of the Dekhan, 
 was the ruler of the provinces now under the 
 Nizam, with an authority shared by the Mahrattas, ' 
 who were then the most powerful race in India. 
 This chief was nominally, but not always in reality, 
 the superior of the Nawdb of the Carnatic. It was 
 as the tenants of the latter ruler that the English and 
 French held their respective positions at Madras and 
 Fort St David in the one case, and at Pondicherry in 
 the other. Those possessions were very small, occupy- 
 ing in each case only a few square miles ; for both the 
 English and the French had gone to India not for 
 the purpose of acquiring territory, but for the purpose 
 of carrying on trade. 
 
 The immediate cause which led Clive to serve 
 again in a military capacity was an invitation 
 
MAP OF INDIA IN 1744. 
 Showing British Possessions at that date. 
 
LORD CLIVE 13 
 
 addressed to the English authorities at Fort St , 
 David by Sdhuji, a member of the reigning family 
 in the Mahratta principality of Tanjore, to aid him 
 in recovering the throne of which he had been dis- 
 possessed, the invitation being accompanied by an 
 offer to cede to the Company the town and fort of 
 D6vikota, near the mouth of the Kolrdn river. 
 The English had previously supported Pertdb Singh, 
 the actual occupant of the throne, but tempted by 
 the offer of the cession of D^vikota, which, being 
 near the mouth of an important river, they deemed 
 to be in a very advantageous position for trade, they 
 complied with Sihuji's request, and sent a small force 
 to his aid under the command of Captain Cope, with 
 which Clive volunteered to serve. The expedition 
 failed, chiefly on account of a severe storm which dis- 
 persed the ships carrying the baggage and the heavy 
 guns. Another expedition, under the command of 
 Major Stringer Lawrence, with which Clive also 
 served with the rank of lieutenant, was more suc- 
 cessful. On this occasion Clive volunteered for 
 the command of a storming party told off to storm 
 an embankment which had been thrown up to 
 defend a breach made in the walls of the fort. He 
 again behaved with his accustomed bravery, and had 
 a very narrow escape ; for the Sepoys — 7°° '^^ number 
 — having failed to advance, a small body of 33 British 
 soldiers which accompanied Clive was suddenly 
 attacked by the Tanjore horse, and almost wholly 
 
14 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 destroyed. The fortunes of the day were sub- 
 sequently retrieved by Major Lawrence, who, 
 advancing with the whole of his force, took the 
 fort. Mill, in describing this incident, accuses Clive 
 of rashness in allowing himself to be separated from 
 the Sepoys. Orme's version of the affair gives a 
 different aspect to it. He writes, 'About 50 yards 
 in front of the entrenchment ran a deep and miry 
 rivulet. . . . The Europeans, marching at the head 
 of the Sepoys, crossed the rivulet with difficulty, and 
 four of them were killed by the fire from the fort 
 before they reached the opposite bank. As soon as 
 the Sepoys had passed likewise, Lieutenant Clive 
 advanced briskly with the Europeans, intending to 
 attack the entrenchment in flank, at an end where 
 the work had not been completed. The Sepoys who 
 had crossed the rivulet, instead of following closely, as 
 they had been ordered, remained at the bank waiting 
 until they were joined by greater numbers.' If 
 Orme's statement of the facts is correct, the charge 
 of rashness would seem in this case to be unfounded. 
 Incidents very similar have frequently occurred in 
 war, and it is right to bear in mind that if Clive 
 ..(and the same may be said of other commanders in 
 more recent times) had not carried daring to the 
 verge of rashness, the conquest of India might never 
 have been achieved. The affair ended in the cession 
 by the Rajd of Tanjore to the East India Company of 
 D^vikota, with as much land adjoining it as would 
 
LORD CLIVE 15 
 
 yield an annual income of thirty-six thousand rupees. 
 The Rijd agreed to pay the expenses of the war, and to 
 allow Sdhuji an income of four thousand rupees a year, 
 on condition thaj. the English should be answerable 
 for his person. The. transaction was not very credit- 
 able to the English name. They not only in the 
 first instance threw over their ally, Pertdb Singh, for 
 the sake of the possession of D^vikota, but when 
 their arms prevailed and they made peace with the 
 RdjA, they sacrificed Sahuji for whom they had 
 fought, depriving him of his liberty, and assigning 
 to him what to a man of his rank was a miserable 
 pittance. 
 
 Clive was not, however, concerned with these con- 
 siderations. As a subaltern officer all he had to do was 
 to obey orders, and to carry them out to the best 
 of his capacity. At the close of this alFair he was 
 again relegated to civil duty, but such was the sense 
 entertained of his services that he was appointed a 
 commissary to the troops. Before he had long been 
 employed upon his new work, he was attacked by a 
 fever, accompanied by so much depression of spirits 
 that the constant presence of an attendant became 
 necessary, and he was ordered to take a sea trip 
 during the cold weather of 1749-50 in the Bay of 
 Bengal, which speedily restored him to health. His 
 late commander, Lawrence, referring afterwards to 
 Clive's conduct in the D6vikota campaign, described 
 it in the following terms, ' His early genius surprised 
 
1 6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and engaged my attention as well before as at the 
 siege of D^vikota, where he behaved in courage and 
 judgment much beyond what could have been ex- 
 pected from his years.' 
 
 Two years later Clive was present, in a civil 
 capacity, at what Sir John Malcolm calls the dis- 
 *^raceful affair of Vdlkonda, where, owing to the 
 irresolution of the English officers, a body of the 
 Company's troops, sent to oppose a native chief, was 
 compelled to retire and to seek shelter under the walls 
 of Trichinopoly. But the young civilian speedily 
 resumed military employment. Very shortly after 
 the last affair he was sent with Mr Pigot, then a 
 member of Council at Fort St David, in charge 
 of some recruits and stores which were destined for 
 Trichinopoly. The convoy consisted of 80 European 
 soldiers and 300 Sepoys, and the orders were that 
 the two English gentlemen should accompany it 
 until it should be beyond the reach of attack. 
 From Fort St David to Verdachalam, a distance of 
 forty miles, the party traversed the territory of a 
 petty chief who was hostile to the English. For 
 the rest of the distance there was no cause for 
 apprehension. The convoy reached Verdachalam 
 unmolested, and thence Pigot and Clive returned 
 with an escort of only twelve Sepoys. They were 
 speedily attacked. Seven of the escort were killed. 
 The rest, having expended their ammunition, were 
 ordered to disperse, and the two English gentlemen, 
 
LORD CLIVE 17 
 
 riding for their lives, reached Fort St David in 
 safety .- 
 
 Soon afterwards, Clive, having _ been per- 
 manently transferred to the military service, was 
 promoted to the rank of captain, and was sent for 
 the third time to Trichinopoly in chajge of another 
 small reinforcement. He had, it would seem, on the 
 occasion of one of his previous visits, come to the 
 conclusion that the only feasible means of relieving 
 the place, which was beleaguered by a large hostile 
 force, was to create a diversion in another quarter, 
 and that with this view an expedition should be sent 
 to capture Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic. 
 He had made a suggestion to that effect to Mr 
 Saunders, the Governor of Fort St David, upon which 
 Saunders, owing to the paucity of competent English 
 officers, did not feel himself in a position to act. 
 What Clive saw on this last visit confirmed him in 
 his previous opinion. The garrison was utterly 
 demoralised, and Muhammad Ali, whose cause the 
 English had taken up, was in despair. Clive ac- 
 cordingly determined to return to Fort St David, 
 and to press his former suggestion upon Saunders. 
 The latter, who, though not a man of marked 
 ability, was a good judge of men, determined to 
 follow Clive's advice, and to place him in com- 
 mand of the expedition. 
 
 The operations in which Clive was now engaged, 
 unlike those which preceded the affair of D^vikota, 
 
1 8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 were not caused by hostilities between the English 
 and French nations. In Europe the two countries 
 were for the time at peace. In India the English 
 and French trading companies became involved in 
 wars which arose between native Indian rivals for 
 power in the Dekhan and in the Carnatic. The 
 conflict between the English and French was 
 immediately brought about by the ambition of 
 Dupleix ; but apart from this, the position of the 
 two companies in relation to the native states was 
 such that sooner or later the political ascendancy of 
 one or the other must have becorpe essential to 
 their prosperity, if not to their continued existence. 
 Dupleix was the first to recognise this important 
 fact, as he had been the first to discern the expedi- 
 ency of training the natives of India as soldiers, and 
 employing them under European direction. He was 
 not a soldier by profession, and he had not, like 
 Clive, the military instinct, which in Clive's case 
 made up for the want of a military training. But he 
 was a man of insatiable ambition and of considerable 
 intellectual capacity, and in his dealings with the natives 
 of India he received valuable assistance from his wife, 
 a French Creole, who knew the native languages and 
 the native character. Indeed, if it had not been for 
 Clive, it is more than probable that Dupleix would 
 have succeeded in obtaining for the French the 
 position in India to which the English eventually 
 attained. The struggle arose in connection with 
 
LORD CLIVE 19 
 
 rival claims to the post s of Subahdir, or Viceroy, o f 
 tlie Dekhan. and of Nawd b of the Carn ^ ^tic. /The 
 holders of the first oF these posts, though nominally 
 subordinate to the Emperor of Delhi, had long been 
 practically independent. The Subahddrs of the 
 Dekhan were the real overlords of a great part of 
 the South of India, receiving tribute from the Nawdbs 
 of the Carnatic. On the death in 1748 of Nizdm 
 ul Mulk, the last really powerful Subahdir of the 
 Dekhan, at the great age of 104, the succession of 
 his son, Ndzir Jung, was disputed by Mirzapha Jung, 
 one of his grandsons. Shortly afterwards a similar 
 dispute arose regarding the Nawdbship of the 
 Carnatic, at that time held by Anwdrud din Khdn, 
 whose claim was contested by Chandd Sahib, son-in- 
 law of the former Nawdb. Mirzapha Jung, having 
 determined to enlist the aid of the Mahrattas in his 
 cause, repaired to Sattira for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing the support of Balaji Rio, the Mahratta chief. 
 There he met Chandd Sahib, who was an extremely 
 intelligent man, and greatly doubted the wisdom of 
 calling in the Mahrattas. He persuaded Mirzapha 
 Jung to enter into an alliance with the French, as 
 being far safer than an alliance with the Mahrattas. 
 The result was that Chanda Sahib, who at the time 
 was a prisoner in the hands of the Mahrattas, was 
 ransomed by Dupleix, and he and Mirzapha Jung 
 joining forces, attacked the Nawdb, Anwdrud din 
 Khdn, at Ambdr .on the 3d August 1749, and won 
 
20 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 a decisive victory./ In this battle Dupleix furnished 
 a contingent of 400 Frenchmen under the command 
 of M. d'Auteuil. The latter had also 36,000 native 
 troops under his command. Anwarud din Khdn was 
 killed in the fight. One of his sons, Mdphuz Khin, 
 was taken prisoner, and the other, Muhammad Ali, 
 better known afterwards as the Nawib Wallajah, 
 had to fly for his life. D'Auteuil having been 
 wounded early in the battle, the command on the 
 French side devolved upon M. de Bussy, who was 
 serving as second in command, and was the ablest 
 of the French generals. The army of Anwdrud 
 din Khdn speedily dispersed, and Mirzapha Jung, 
 repairing immediately to Arcot, proclaimed himself 
 Subahddr of the Dekhan and Chandd Sahib Nawdb 
 of the Carnatic. 
 
 These two personages next proceeded to Pondi- 
 cherry, where Mirzapha Jung conferred upon 
 Dupleix the sovereignty of eighty-one villages ad- 
 joining the French territory. It had been arranged 
 that Mirzapha Jung and Chanda Sahib should then 
 move upon Trichinopoly, where Muhammad Ali had 
 taken refuge, and had collected troops for its defence, 
 but this movement was delayed owing to various 
 causes, of which the principal was the presence of 
 Admiral Boscawen's fleet off the coast. Another 
 was the attraction of the wealth of Tanjore, 
 which induced Chandd Sahib to delay his advance 
 until reinforcements sent from Madras enabled 
 
LORD CLIVE 21 
 
 Trichinopoly to hold out. Shortly after this Ndzir 
 Jung was murdered by one of his tributaries, and 
 Mirzapha Jung met his death in a revolt of some 
 of his Pathin soldiers when on his way to Hyder- 
 abad with an escort of French troops .under De 
 Bussy. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CLIVE's march to ARCOT OCCUPIES THE FORT — ■ 
 
 ANOTHER NARROW ESCAPE GALLANT DEFENCE 
 
 EFFECT OF HIS DEFENCE UPON THE NATIVE 
 
 MIND BATTLE OF KAVERIPAK. 
 
 The events briefly referred to in the preceding 
 chapter occupied a period of two years ; for it was 
 not until the 26th August 1751, the battle of Ambur 
 having been fought on the 3d August 1749, that 
 Clive found himself in a position to march upon 
 Arcot. The force placed at his disposal numbered 
 only 500 men, of whom only 200 were English, 
 He had with him three field pieces of artillery. 
 Of the English officers, eight in number, six had 
 never been in action, and four were young men of 
 the mercantile service, who, fired by the example of 
 Clive, had volunteered to join the expedition. The 
 miniature army started from Madras^ from which place 
 Arcot is seventy miles distant. The distance was 
 traversed in less than six days, including a short halt 
 at Conjeveram. Clive, hearing at that place that 
 the garrison in the fort of Arcot was iioo strong, 
 
LORD CLIVE 23 
 
 despatched thence a message to Madras requesting 
 that two more guns might be sent after him. He 
 and his men reached Arcot on the 31st August, ' 
 making the last march in a violent thunderstorm, 
 and arriving to find the fort evacuated by the enemy, 
 who, it was said, were so much alarmed by the 
 accounts they received of the unconcern with which 
 Clive's force had pursued its march through the 
 thunderstorm, that they fled in a panic. Clive 
 occupied the fort without encountering any opposi- 
 tion, and at once set to work to lay in provisions 
 to enable him to undergo a siege. During the 
 first week after his arrival he marched out twice with 
 the greater part of his force to beat up the quarters 
 of the fugitive garrison, which had taken up a position 
 in the fort at Timari, some six miles from Arcot. '•-' 
 Two encounters took place. In one of them the 
 enemy, greatly outnumbering Clive's force, collected 
 in the dry bed of a tank or lake, surrounded by a 
 high embankment, from which Clive dislodged them 
 by dividing his men, and bringing a concentric fire to 
 bear upon his opponents from opposite ends of the 
 tank. The enemy at once broke and fled ; but on 
 Clive summoning the fort, the commandant, per- 
 ceiving that he possessed no heavy guns, refused to 
 surrender. Clive thereupon returned to Arcot to 
 await the guns he had sent for, and he remained there 
 for ten days engaged in strengthening the works. At 
 the end of that time the enemy, augmented by rein- 
 
24 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 forcements from the neighbourhood to 3000 men, 
 and encouraged by the cessation of Clive's sallies, 
 took up a position about three miles from Arcot, 
 where Clive surprised them by a night attack and 
 put them to flight without the loss of a single man. 
 A few days later, having detached a considerable part 
 of his force to strengthen the detachment coming 
 from Madras in charge of the guns for which he 
 had applied, he was attacked by and repulsed a large 
 body of the enemy. 
 
 The occupation by the English of the fort of 
 Arcot very speedily produced the effect which Clive 
 Tia3~~ahticipated, in inducing Chandd Sahib to remove 
 some of his troops from before Trichinopoly. On 
 the 23d September 4000 of Chandi Sahib's men, 
 reinforced by 150 French soldiers from Pondicbtrry, 
 and by the troops already collected in the neighbour- 
 hood of Arcot, the latter numbering 2000 men, and 
 all under the command of Chandd Sahib's son, Rajd 
 Sahib, occupied the city of Arcot preparatory to laying 
 siege to the fort. On the following day Clive made 
 another sally in the hope of driving the enemy out 
 of the city, or at all events of inflicting such loss 
 upon him as would diminish his boldness in the 
 prosecution of the siege. The first of these objects 
 was not accomplished, and the sally was attended by 
 the loss of fifteen of the small English force, Clive 
 himself having one of those narrow escapes which 
 were so numerous at this period of his career. The 
 
LORD CLIVE 25 
 
 story of this escape is thus told by Orme, ' The 
 garrison suffered this day the loss of fifteen Europeans, 
 who were either killed on the spot or died afterwards 
 of their wounds ; amongst them was Lieutenant 
 Trenwith, who, perceiving a sepoy from a window 
 taking aim at Captain Clive, pulled him on one side, 
 upon which the sepoy, changing his aim, shot 
 Lieutenant Trenwith through the body.' 
 
 The fort was then completely invested, and under- 
 went a siege which, lasting for fifty days, is justly" 
 regarded as one of the most memorable events in 
 military history. ' The fort was more than a mile in 
 circumference ; the walls in many places ruinous, the 
 towers inconvenient and decayed, an deverything 
 unfavourable to defence, yet Clive found the means 
 of making an effectual resistance. When the enemy 
 attempted to storm at two breaches, one of fifty, 
 one of ninety feet, he repulsed them with but 80 
 Europeans and 150 Sepoys fit for duty, so effectually 
 did he avail himself of his resources, and to such a 
 pitch of fortitude had he exalted the spirit of those 
 under his command.' ' The final assault was delivered 
 on the 14th November and failed, and on the follow- 
 ing morning it was found that the whole of the 
 besieging army had disappeared from Arcot. Before 
 the siege began Clive had lost four out of the eight 
 officers who had accompanied him from Madras. 
 
 ' Mill, Hhtcry of Eritish India, vol. iii., p. 84. 
 
2 6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 One had been killed, two wounded, and one had 
 returned to Madras. The stock of provisions had 
 fallen very low some time before the siege was raised. 
 When it became apparent that famine might compel 
 the garrison to surrender, the Sepoys offered to give 
 up the grain to the Europeans, contenting them- 
 selves with the water in which the rice was boiled. 
 'It is,' they said, 'sufficient for our support. The 
 Europeans require the grain.' 
 
 ■ Clive was the life of the defence. It was almost 
 a miracle that, exposing himself as he did, he escaped 
 unhurt. The fort was surrounded by houses, from 
 which the enemy, themselves in tolerable security, 
 were able to fire into it. On three different occasions 
 sergeants who accompanied Clive on his visits to the 
 works were shot dead at his side. On the day of the 
 final assault the storrners brought a raft into the ditch 
 at a point which was not fordable, when Clive, who 
 was directing the defence at that point, observing that 
 the aim of the gunners who were firing upon the 
 raft, was bad, took himself the management of one of 
 the guns, and speedily cleared the raft. 
 
 Rdjd Sahib had endeavoured, first by the offer of a 
 bribe and then by threats, to induce Clive to yield up 
 the fort ; but his offers and threats were alike met by 
 defiance. 
 
 The defence of Arcot produced an immense effect 
 upon the minds of the natives of Southern India. 
 They had hitherto entertained but little respect for 
 
LORD CLIVE 27 
 
 the English, whom they ranked as very inferior to the 
 French in military capacity, but from this time native 
 opinion entirely changed, and the defence of Arcot 
 may justly be regarde d as not_o nty-^fr tuririTrg^oint 
 in Clive's career, b^t as ' the turning-point in jhe 
 
 The expected reinforcements from Madras reached 
 Arcot the day after the siege was raised. About the 
 same time Clive was joined by a body of Mahratta 
 horsemen under Mordri Rio, a freebooting chief, 
 who had been nominally in alliance with Muhammad 
 Ali, and to whom Clive had applied for aid. The 
 Mahratta chief had held aloof at first, not choosing 
 to commit himself until he saw which side was likely 
 to prevail, but as the siege went on he seems to have 
 been really impressed by the gallantry displayed by 
 Clive and his little force, and a few days before the 
 siege was raised he had made a demonstration which 
 had decided Rdjd Sahib no longer to delay the final 
 assault. 
 
 A few days afterwards, with untiring energy, Clive 
 again took the field, accompanied by the reinforce- 
 ments which, as above stated, had arrived from Madras. 
 After taking the little fort at Timari, which had held 
 out on the previous occasion, he determined to march 
 upon Arni, a place about seventeen miles south of Arcot, 
 towards which Rdjd Sahib, having been reinforced by 
 some French and native troops from Pondicherry, 
 
 ' Malleson, French m India, p. 290. 
 
28 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 was also moving. Clive's march was somewhat 
 delayed by the sluggish proceedings of his Mahratta 
 allies, who, until they found that the troops sent 
 from Pondicherry had with them a considerable 
 amount of treasure, showed no disposition to advance. 
 When they did march, not more than three-fifths of 
 their party accompanied Clive. Rdjd Sahib's force 
 was considerably superior in numbers to that under 
 Clive. The former had with him 300 Frenchmen, 
 2000 cavalry and 2,500 Sepoys, with 4 guns; 
 Clive's force consisting of 200 Europeans, 700 
 Sepoys and 3 guns, with 600 Mahratta horse. The 
 struggle was for a time severe, but was decided in 
 Clive's favour by a strategic movement against a 
 narrow causeway on which a considerable number 
 of the enemy's force and his 4 guns were placed. 
 The result was that Rdji Sahib's force was dispersed 
 with a loss of 50 Frenchmen and 150 Sepoys killed 
 or wounded, while Clive lost 8 Sepoys and 50 
 of the Mahratta horse. The victory showed that 
 Clive could fight, not only behind walls, but in the 
 open field, and as a consequence 600 trained Sepoys 
 immediately afterwards took service with him, bring- 
 ing their arms with them. Clive next marched upon 
 and took the great pagoda at Conjeveram, which, 
 during the siege of Arcot, had been seized by a 
 French garrison. After this he proceeded to Madras, 
 and thence to Fort St David, to report upon his 
 campaign to the Government. 
 
LORD CLIVE 29 
 
 Rdjd Sahib having meanwhile reassembled his 
 army and commenced to ravage the Company's 
 territory in the immediate vicinity of Madras, Clive 
 was sent to Madras early in February, and on the 
 22d of that month again took the field, marching 
 first upon Vandalur. Rdjd Sahib had, however, broken 
 up his camp there and gone on to Conjeveram, 
 whence he was on his way to Arcot, when at a late 
 hour of the day (the 23d February), coming suddenly 
 upon Clive's force, he attacked it near the village 
 of Kayeripak. The contest which ensued was severe 
 and critical. The greater part of it was fought by 
 moonlight, and the enemy's force was superior both 
 in number and in guns. It also had a considerable num- 
 ber of cavalry, whereas Clive had none. The victory 
 was again won by the stategy of Clive, who, having 
 ascertained that the enemy's guns were unprotected 
 in their rear, sent a detachment to attack the battery 
 from that quarter, whereupon they abandoned their guns 
 and fled. Sixty French soldiers were taken prisoners. 
 Nine guns and three mortars were captured.' 
 Advancing again to Arcot, Clive proceeded towards 
 \fell0re, -and- was planning the reduction of that place 
 when he was recalled to Fort St David to command 
 an expedition against Trichinopoly, which was 
 still beleaguered by Chandd Sahib's troops. On his 
 
 ' One of Clive's latest biographers pronounces the victory of Kaveripak 
 to have done more to secure English predominance in Southern India 
 than the defence of Arcot. — Footnote to Malleson's Life of Clive, p. ill. 
 
30 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 march back, discerning the importance of destroying 
 as far as possible the prestige of the French, he razed 
 to the ground a town which Dupleix had christened 
 after himself, as Dupleix Fatihdbid [angliciy 'The 
 scene of Dupleix's victory' ), and also a monument 
 which Dupleix had erected in commemoration of 
 French victories. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CONDITION OF TRICHINOPOLY RETURN OF LAW- 
 RENCE, WHO ASSUMES THE COMMAND CLIVE 
 
 SENT TO SAMIAVARAM IN COMMAND OF A DE- 
 TACHMENT CLIVE's STRATEGY SUCCESSFUL HE 
 
 HAS MORE THAN ONE HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE 
 
 SURRENDER OF LAw's AND d'aUTEUIl's FORCES 
 
 CLIVE AT COVELONG AND CHINGLEPUT CLIVe's 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 The state of things at Trichinopoly was such as to 
 demand the presence of energetic leaders on both sides. 
 Notwithstanding the relief which had been afforded 
 to the besieged by the withd rawal t o Arcot of a 
 large body from_ the besiegirig_Jorce, the position of 
 the garrison was extremely unsatisfactory. Captain 
 Cope, who had commanded in the fort, had been 
 killed. Captain Gingen, who succeeded him, was a 
 man of but small capacity, and very devoid of en- 
 terprise. The English troops were depressed and 
 starving. Muhammad AH and the native contingent 
 under him were again in the depths of despair. On 
 the side of the besiegers the command was held by 
 
 31 
 
32 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Law, a man of considerable intellectual power, but 
 lamentably wanting in decision. There can be no 
 question that the Governor of Fort St David 
 judged rightly when he decided to send Clive to 
 the rescue of Trichinopoly. But Clive was not 
 destined to hold the chief command on this occasion. 
 Two days before the date fixed for the departure of' 
 the expedition, Major Lawrence, who had been 
 absent in England, returned to Fort St David, and 
 as the senior officer in the Presidency, claimed the 
 command. Clive readily assented, ever mindful of the 
 kindness he had received from Lawrence in the earlier 
 part of his career, and accompanied the expedition in 
 a subordinate capacity. At the outset, indeed, not- 
 withstanding his recent very brilliant services, he was 
 not even granted the position of second in command, 
 until, on a suggestion made by him, Lawrence, 
 after reaching Trichinopoly, placed him in command 
 of a detachment sent to Samiavaram, a place to the 
 north of Trichinopoly, to intercept any supplies and 
 reinforcements that might be sent to the besieging 
 force from Pondicherry. The remonstrances of the 
 senior captains with Lawrence's force against what 
 they deemed to be their supersession by Clive in the 
 command of this detachment were silenced by the 
 refusal of the Mahratta horsemen, and of the other 
 native troops detailed for the expedition, to serve 
 under any other leader. Before, however, this move- 
 ment was resolved on, Clive had rendered an important 
 
LORD CLIVE 33 
 
 service to Lawrence on the day prior to the latter's 
 march into Trichinopoly. Owing to the inactivity 
 of Law, Lawrence had been able to effect a junction 
 with certain reinforcements which had been sent to 
 his aid, but was attacked by Law immediately after 
 the reinforcements joined him. His troops were 
 preparing their breakfasts after a long march when 
 intelligence came of the approach of the enemy. 
 Clive, being sent to reconnoitre, found in front of 
 Law's force, and nearer to it than to the English, a 
 caravansarai flanked by stone buildings, the possession 
 of which he at once discerned to be of the utmost 
 importance. He immediately galloped back, and 
 obtaining Lawrence's permission to take a portion of 
 the force to seize these buildings, the latter was 
 enabled to drive back the enemy with but slight loss 
 to his own force, but with heavy loss to the 
 French. 
 
 Law shortly after this withdrew his force into 
 Shrirangham, an island situated between the two 
 branches of the Kaveri river, and containing a 
 famous pagoda of great strength. It was this move- 
 ment on the part of Law that led Clive to advise 
 the occupation of Samiavaram, which would enable 
 Lawrence to invest from the north Law's position, 
 already invested from the south, east and west. Clive, 
 with his detachment, consisting of 400 Europeans, 700 
 Sepoys, 3000 Mahratta cavalry and 8 guns, marched 
 on the night of the 17th April, and at once pro- 
 
34 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ceeded to strengthen the defences of the village. 
 Meanwhile Dupleix, thoroughly disgusted with Law's 
 inactivity, had determined to supersede him, and had 
 sent M. d'Auteuil, the general who, with De Bussy 
 as his second in command, had commanded at Ambiir, 
 to take his place. In the operations that followed, 
 Clive's strategy proved thoroughly successful, and re- 
 sulted in the course of a few weeks in the surrender 
 of both Law and D'Auteuil in succession, and also 
 in that of Chandi Sahib, who gave himself up to the 
 Tanjore chief, and was brutally murdered by his orders. 
 It has been held that Lawrence could, and ought to, 
 have intervened to prevent this murder. 
 
 In the course of these operations Clive had more 
 than one hairbreadth escape. During a night attack 
 by the French, who, aided by some English deserters, 
 had managed by stratagem to secure an entrance into 
 Clive's position, a choultry '■ in which Clive was sleep- 
 ing was fired into, a box that lay under his feet was 
 shattered by bullets, and a servant sleeping close to 
 him was killed. In the fighting which followed, 
 Clive was wounded, and a few hours later had the 
 narrowest escape of being killed. The incident is 
 thus related by Orme, ' At daybreak the command- 
 ing officer of the French, seeing the danger of his 
 situation, made a sally at the head of his men, who 
 received so heavy a fire that he himself, and twelve 
 others who first came out of the gateway, were killed 
 
 ' Choultry — a shelter for travellers, generally open on one side. 
 
LORD CLIVE 35 
 
 by the volley, on which the rest ran back into the 
 pagoda. Captain Clive then advanced into the porch 
 of the gate to parley with the enemy, and, being 
 weak with loss of blood and fatigue, stood with his 
 back to the wall of the porch, and leaned, stooping 
 forward, on the shoulders of two sergeants. An 
 Irish officer in charge of the English deserters pre- 
 sented himself with great insolence, and telling Clive 
 with abusive language that he would shoot him, fired 
 his musket. The ball missed Clive, but went through 
 the bodies of both the sergeants on whom he was 
 leaning, and they both fell, mortally wounded.' The 
 French officer in command was so indignant at the 
 conduct of the Irishman that he at once surrender ed 
 with his whole force. 
 
 The surrender of Law's and D'Auteuil's forces put 
 an end to the war for a time, and effectually pre- 
 vented the capture of Trichinopoly, but was speedily 
 followed by dissensions between the native chiefs, 
 originating in the refusal of Muhammad Ali to fulfil 
 a promise which he had made to the Rdjd of Mysore 
 to give up to him the town and fort of Trichinopoly 
 — a refusal in which he was supported by the Rdjd 
 of Mysore, and secretly by the Mahratta chief, Mordri 
 Rdo. These dissensions, actively fomented by Dupleix, 
 were followed by a renewal of hostilities, in the course 
 of which an attack by the English upon the strong 
 fort of Ginji, in the South Arcot district, ordered 
 by the Governor of Madras in opposition to t> " 
 
36 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 advice of Lawrence, completely failed, and was 
 followed by the advance of the French to the 
 neighbourhood of Fort St David. On this occa- 
 sion neither Lawrence nor Clive were present, both 
 of them having been compelled to leave the army 
 for a time, owing to illness brought on by the ex- 
 posure they had undergone at the hottest season of 
 the year. Lawrence, however, again took the field, 
 and defeated the French, taking prisoner Dupleix's 
 nephew, who was in command. 
 
 Shortly after this, Clive was employed to reduce 
 two forts to the south of Madras, both of them of 
 considerable strength, one at Covelong (Covilam), on 
 the coast, about twenty miles, and the other, Chingle- 
 put (Chengalpatt), about thirty miles inland from 
 Madras. Both these forts were held by the French, 
 and, being in dangerous proximity to Madras, the 
 Governor was anxious that they should be taken be- 
 fore the arrival of French reinforcements which were 
 expected at Pondicherry. The only troops available 
 for this duty were 200 newly-arrived and untrained 
 English recruits, and 500 Sepoys recently raised by 
 Mr Saunders. The detachment was accompanied by 
 four guns. On the morning after its arrival at Cove- 
 long, an English ofEcer was killed in the course of 
 a sally made by the garrison, whereupon the detach- 
 ment fled in confusion, and, according to Orme, 
 would 'have fled as far as Madras but that Clive, 
 meeting them, forced them, sword in hand and not 
 
LORD CLTVE 37 
 
 without violence, to return.' During the siege which 
 followed, similar panics occurred on more than one 
 occasion, but Clive's attitude in the end prevailed, 
 not only against the cowardice of his own troops, 
 but against the French commanders. With half his 
 force he beat back a reinforcement that had been 
 sent from Chingleput to force him to raise the siege 
 of £Iovelong. Upon this the officer in command there 
 capitulated. A similar result occurred at Chingleput. 
 At each place, the French, who appear to have been 
 vi^retchedly commanded, yielded to the energy of the 
 English leader, after a siege of four days. 
 
 Clive's health had not improved from the con- 
 tinued exposure which attended the expedition, and 
 after capturing Chingleput he again returned to 
 Madras. Here, on the i8th February 1753, he 
 married Miss Margaret Maskelyne, daughter of Mr 
 Edmund Maskelyne, of Purton, Wilts, and sister of 
 Mr Edmund Maskelyne, who had been Clive's 
 companion in his escape from Madras in 1746. The 
 various biographies of Clive contain but scanty in- 
 formation regarding his wife, beyond the fact that 
 she was a beautiful woman, possessing a great charm 
 of manner. There is a tradition connected with the 
 marriage that Clive, on one occasion, seeing in his 
 friend Edmund Maskelyne's room a miniature of a 
 lady, asked whose portrait it was, and on being told 
 that it was the portrait of Mr Maskelyne's sister, at 
 once requested him to invite his sister to come out to 
 
38 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Madras in order that he might marry her. The story 
 is characteristic of Clive, and is probably true. How- 
 ever this may be, the marriage proved a very happy 
 one. Clive was devoted to his wife, who was much 
 beloved by his family and by his friends. With her 
 own family also she appears to have been a universal 
 favourite. She was evidently a refined and well- 
 educated woman. Her picture at Basset Down, the 
 Wiltshire home of the present head of the Maskelyne 
 family, her handwriting and her letters suggest these 
 qualities. She was well born and well bred, that is 
 to say, her father's people for many generations had 
 been gentlemen of good estate in Wiltshire, in 
 the Visitation of which county, in 1623, their 
 pedigree' and arms are entered. Her mother repre- 
 sented, on her father's side, a younger branch of the 
 Booths of Dunham Massey, and on her mother's 
 side, the family of Proger, otherwise Proger- Herbert, 
 members of which had served about the person of 
 Charles I. and of Charles II., and who claimed to be 
 the elder line of all the Herberts. Letters written to 
 them by the Stewarts are at Basset Down. Lady 
 Clive's grandfather, Major Nevill Maskelyne, died in 
 1 71 1. His wife had predeceased him, and a large 
 family of young children were left orphans. Under a 
 strict entail, executed in 1677 by Nevill Maskelyne, 
 for many years M.P. for Cricklade, the whole of Major 
 Nevill Maskelyne's estate passed to his eldest son, and 
 
 * See Pedigree in Appendix V. 
 
LORD CLIVE 39 
 
 there was but slender provision for the other children. 
 William, the second son, was accordingly sent out to 
 India, and is described in 1728 as of Fort Marl- 
 borough, on the North Coast of Sumatra, a long since 
 abandoned settlement of the East India Company. 
 Two of his sisters married in India, while Edmund, the 
 third son, Lady Clive's father, became a clerk to the 
 Duke of Newcastle in the Secretary of State's office, 
 Whitehall. His second boy, Edmund, by the in- 
 fluence of the Duke, obtained a writership at Madras, 
 from which town, as we have seen, after its capture 
 by the French in 1746, he escaped in company with 
 the subject of this Memoir. The other two sons 
 became Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, one 
 of them, Nevil,' rising to the post of Astronomer 
 Royal. With these brothers, and with the children 
 of her aunts, Mrs Walsh and Mrs Kelsall, Lady Clive 
 maintained the most affectionate intercourse, 
 
 ' The name was so spelt by this member of the family. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CLIVE RETURNS TO ENGLAND HIS RECEPTION 
 
 SEEKS BUT FAILS TO ENTER PARLIAMENT 
 
 APPLIES FOR RE-EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA AP- 
 POINTED GOVERNOR OF FORT ST DAVID 
 
 REACHES BOMBAY IN OCTOBER 1 755 EX- 
 PEDITION TO GHERIAH CLIVE ASSUMES HIS 
 
 GOVERNMENT DISPUTES BETWrEEN NAVAL AND 
 
 MILITARY OFFICERS. 
 
 Clive and his bride sailed from Madras tow^ards the 
 
 end of February 1753, and landed in England in the 
 
 course of that year. The fame of his exploits having 
 
 preceded him, his reception in England was most 
 
 gratifying. The Court of Directors treated him with 
 
 special honour, toasting the young Captain at their 
 
 banquets as ' General Clive,' and presenting him with 
 
 a sword of honour set with diamonds of the value of 
 
 five hundred pounds, ' as a token of their esteem, and 
 
 of their sense of his singular services to the Company 
 
 on the coast of Coromandel.' Before accepting this 
 
 sword, Clive, to his credit, stipulated that a similar 
 
 honour should be conferred upon his late commander, 
 
 Colonel Lawrence. Clive's stay in England was 
 40 
 
LORD CLIVE 41 
 
 short, 'tie had brought home with him what may be 
 described as a moderately handsome fortune, derived 
 partly from prize money, and largely, it may be 
 assumed, from munificent presents made to him by 
 the native chiefs whose interests he had served. The 
 acceptance of such presents, however objectionable in 
 principle, was only in conformity with the custom 
 of the time, and cannot fairly be judged by the 
 standard of official morality now recognised. The 
 fortune he had acquired did not last long. The first 
 use which Clive made of it was unexceptionable. 
 He extricated his father from his pecuniary difficulties, 
 and redeemed the family estate from a burden of debt 
 by which it was encumbered. His other methods of 
 spending his money were less praiseworthy. He was 
 fond of display, and more or less intoxicated by the 
 reception he met with in London society. He indulged 
 in expenses beyond his means, and to crown all he 
 embarked upon a contested election for the Parliament- 
 ary borough of St Michael's in Cornwall, for which, 
 with the aid of Lord Sandwich's interest and by a 
 large expenditure of money, he was returned, but was 
 subsequently unseated on petition. He had thrown in 
 his lot with the more advanced section of the Whigs, 
 under the leadership of Henry Fox. 
 
 Having thus expended the greater part of his 
 
 fortune, and being foiled in his wish to enter public 
 
 j life in England, Clive applied to the Court of 
 
 Directors for re-employment in India. His applica- 
 
4-2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 tion was promptly complied with, and he was appointed 
 Governor of Fort St David, with the reversion of the 
 Governorship of Madras on the first vacancy. The 
 original intention was that, before proceeding to Fort 
 St David, he should be employed in military opera- 
 tions which it was proposed to carry on in the 
 Dekhan for the purpose of destroying French influence 
 there, and so consolidating English influence in the 
 Carnatic, then nominally a dependency of the 
 Subahdir of the Dekhan. With this view it was 
 proposed to enlist on the English side the co-operation 
 of the P^shwa,' and matters had gone so far that an 
 agreement had been made with the P^shwa, under 
 which English troops were to be sent to act as the 
 auxiliaries of his Mahratta force, and a British officer, 
 Colonel Scott, who had been recently sent out to 
 India as Chief Engineer, had been nominated to the 
 command. This arrangement had been rendered 
 abortive by a treaty of neutrality in contests between 
 the native chiefe, which had been entered into by M. 
 Godehieu, Dupleix's successor in the government of 
 Pondicherry, and Mr Saunders, the Governor of 
 Madras. Of this treaty, however, the Court of 
 Directors were not aware until after Clive had left 
 England, and notwithstanding the previous appoint- 
 ment of Colonel Scott, which had been pressed upon 
 them by the Duke of Cumberland, so convinced were 
 they of the superior fitness of Clive for the command of 
 
 ' The head of the Mahratta confederacy. 
 
LORD CLIVE 43 
 
 the proposed expedition, that they obtained for him a 
 commission as Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Army, 
 and directed him to go to Bombay so as to be at 
 hand in the event of his services being required in 
 the Dekhan. 
 
 Clive, accompanied by his wife, left England early 
 in 1755, and reached Bombay at the end of October, 
 to find that Colonel Scott was dead, and that, in con- 
 sequence of the treaty of neutrality already referred to, ' 
 the expedition to the Dekhan was not to take place. 
 The main motive, indeed, of the expedition had in a 
 great degree ceased to exist. Dupleix, who in 1753 
 and 1754 had succeeded to a considerable extent in 
 re-establishing French influence in the Carnatic, had 
 been recalled, and his successor, M. Godehieu, was a 
 weak man, devoid of ambition and anxious only for 
 peace. This anxiety was probably stimulated by the 
 arrival at Fort St David of a British squadron under 
 Admiral Watson, conveying the 39th Foot to India. 
 On the other hand, the influence of the French under 
 M. De Bussy was so strong in the districts north 
 of Madras that the Governor of Madras had his own 
 reasons for regarding with apprehension a renewal of 
 the war. But although the convention prevented the 
 expedition which Clive was intended to command, he 
 was not destined to remain long without active em- 
 ployment. The Bombay coast had for some years 
 been subject to piratical raids, commenced two cen- 
 turies before by the great Mahratta chief Sivaji, and 
 
44- BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 continued in later years by Kinhaji Angria, the 
 commander of the Mahratta fleet, and more recently 
 by his son Tulaji Angria, who had the boldness to 
 attack English, French and Dutch warships, and 
 had seriously harassed the trade between Bombay and 
 Europe. Angria possessed two forts, one called 
 Gheriah, on the mainland, at the mouth of the river 
 Kanvi, about a hundred and twenty miles south of 
 Bombay, and the other on the Island of Suvarndrug, 
 eighty miles north of Gheriah. Before Clive arrived. 
 Commodore James, under the orders of the Bombay 
 Government, had captured Suvarndrug. Some months 
 later, and about the same time as Clive, Admiral 
 Watson, with his squadron, reached Bombay from 
 Madras, and it was then settled that a joint naval 
 and military force, the latter under the command of 
 Clive, who had brought with him from England 
 three companies of Royal Artillery and 300 
 infantry recruits, should be despatched to capture 
 Gheriah. It had been arranged that on the land side 
 a Mahratta force should co-operate with the English, 
 but the Mahrattas proved faithless, and their com- 
 mander, with whom Angria had taken refuge, extorted 
 from him a promise to surrender the fort to him, and 
 not to the English. Intelligence of this agreement 
 having reached the English commanders, Clive 
 immediately landed with his troops, and placed himself 
 between the Mahrattas and the fort. The latter was 
 bombarded by the ships, and capitulated on the 
 
LORD CLIVE 45 
 
 second day, after which Clive and Watson pro- 
 ceeded to Fort St David, where Clive took up his 
 government. 
 
 It should be mentioned here that before the ex- 
 pedition sailed for Gheriah, a dispute arose between 
 the naval and military officers on the subject of prize 
 ^money, which foreshadowed disputes between the two 
 services during the subsequent operations in Bengal. 
 On this occasion the military officers urged that 
 Clive's share of prize money should be equal to that 
 of Admiral Pocock, Watson's second in command, 
 while the naval officers contended that Clive, as a 
 lieutenant-colonel, was only entitled to the same 
 share as a post captain. Watson supported the 
 opinion of his officers, but offered to pay the difference 
 to Clive out of his own pocket, — an offer which Clive 
 declined to accept. This dispute was, as we have 
 said, the precursor of other differences between Watson 
 and Clive during the military operations in which they 
 were shortly afterwards engaged, which might have 
 led to most disastrous results. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CLIVE RETURNS TO MADRAS AT A CRITICAL TIME 
 
 TRAGEDY OF THE BLACK HOLE CLIVE AND 
 
 WATSON ORDERED TO BENGAL DELAY IN 
 
 DESPATCHING THE EXPEDITION ITS ARRIVAL 
 
 IN THE HUGHLI CAPTURE OF BUDGE BUDGE 
 
 SURRENDER OF CALCUTTA WATSON's PER- 
 VERSE OBSTINACY PRESIDENTIAL JEALOUSIES 
 
 — CAPTURE OF HUGHLI BATTLE ON fTH FEB- 
 RUARY NEAR CALCUTTA TREATY WITH THR 
 
 NAWAB. 
 
 Clive returned to the Madras Presidency at a 
 critical moment. War with. France was imminent, 
 and broke out in the course of a few months'. 
 The very day that Clive assumed the government 
 of Fort St David, Calcutta was captured by the ' 
 Nawib of Bengal, and the tragedy of the Black 
 Hole took place. The acquisition of Calcutta by 
 the East India Company was somewhat later than 
 that of Madras. It dates from 1686, when the 
 representatives of the Company, driven by the 
 Moghul authorities from Hughli, where they had 
 established a factory, moved under the leadership 
 
 46 
 
LORD CLIVE 4.7 
 
 of Job Charnock some twenty-six miles down the 
 river to Satdnati, now one of the northern suburbs 
 of Calcutta. Ten years afterwards they built the 
 original Fort William, and in 1700 they purchased 
 the villages of Satdnati, Kdlikata aifd Govindpur 
 from the son of the Emperor. In 1707 the East 
 India Company declared Calcutta a separate pre- 
 sidency. Here, surrounded by the richest districts 
 in India, amidst a teeming population, on the 
 banks of a river which was the chief highway of 
 Eastern commerce, the servants of the Company 
 drove a thriving trade, threatened only, but never 
 actually assailed, by the raids of the Mahrattas, 
 the memory of which is still kept alive by the 
 famous Mahratta ditch. They were in the same 
 relation to the Nawdb of Bengal as the servants 
 of the Company at Madras were to the Nawdb of 
 the Carnatic. In April 1756, Aliverdi Khan, who 
 was a just and strong ruler, died, and was succeeded 
 by his grandson, Suraj ud Daulah, a youth under 
 twenty years of age, whose training had been of 
 the worst description. One of the whims of this 
 youth was hatred towards the English, and he 
 had not been two months on the throne when 
 he found a pretext for indulging this sentiment in 
 the fact that the English, in anticipation of 
 difficulties with the French, were strengthening 
 the fortifications of Fort William. On the 4th 
 June he seized the English factory at Kdsimbazdr, 
 
48 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and on the 15th attacked Calcutta. The women 
 and children in the fort were removed on board 
 ship on the i8th, and on the same day the 
 Governor, Mr Drake, and the military command- 
 ant, Captain Minchin, deserted their posts, and to 
 their lasting disgrace betook themselves to the ships. 
 Mr Holwell, a member of the Council, assumed 
 command in the fort, but on the 25th the place 
 was taken. 
 
 All the Englishmen in the fort, 146 persons, 
 were thrust at the point of the sword into a 
 small room, the prison of the garrison, commonly 
 known as the Black Hole, only twenty feet 
 square. The Nawdb had promised to spare their 
 lives, but had gone to sleep after a debauch. No 
 expostulations on the part of the prisoners, not 
 even bribes, would induce the guards to awake 
 the Nawdb and obtain his leave to liberate the 
 prisoners, until the morning, when, having slept off 
 his debauch, he allowed the door to be opened. 
 By that time, out of 146 prisoners, 123 had miser- 
 ably perished. The survivors, among whom was 
 the acting Governor, Holwell, were brought 
 before the tyrant, insulted and reproached by 
 him, and detained in custody in wretched sheds 
 and fed upon grain and water. An Englishwoman 
 who was one of the survivors, was placed in 
 the Nawab's harem. The details of this terrible 
 tragedy and of the suiFerings which the survivors 
 
LORD CLIVE 49 
 
 subsequently underwent, are given in a letter' from 
 Mr Holwell, from which it appears that his eventual 
 release was brought about by the intercession of 
 Aliverdi Khdn's widow, who had in vain en- 
 deavoured to dissuade the Nawdb from attacking 
 Calcutta, and had predicted that his doing so 
 would be his ruin. Intelligence of the outrage 
 did not reach Madras until the i6th August, when, 
 it was at once decided to send a force under Clive 
 to Calcutta to avenge it. Clive was appointed 
 Commander-in-Chief, with full military and political 
 control. He took with him 900 English soldiers,, 
 and 1200 Sepoys and some artillery. Owing, how- 
 ever, to the obstinacy of Watson, and to jealousy 
 of Clive on the part of Colonel Aldercron, who 
 had recently arrived at Madras in command of the 
 39th Foot, a delay of two months took place 
 before the expedition sailed. Watson declined to 
 undertake it at all unless the government of the 
 Bengal settlement, which the Madras Council 
 proposed to assume pending orders from home, was 
 entrusted to the survivors of the Bengal Council, 
 the leaders of which had so shamefully deserted 
 their posts ; while Aldercron, on being informed 
 that Clive was to exercise the military command, 
 actually went so far as to disembark the greater 
 part of his regiment, together with guns and stores 
 which had already been put on board ship, allowing 
 
 ' Holwell's India Tracts, pp. 387-416. 
 D 
 
50 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 only 250 men to remain, who were to serve as 
 marines under Watson. The delay was unfortu- 
 nate ; for before the squadron sailed the North- 
 east monsoon had set in, and in consequence none 
 of the ships reached the Hughli until the middle 
 of December, and even then two of the largest 
 ships were missing ; the Marlborough^ with most of 
 the artillery, and the Cumberland, with Admiral 
 Pocock and 250 English soldiers, having failed to 
 make their way against the monsoon. Clive's orders 
 were to recapture Calcutta, to attack the Nawab 
 at his capital, Murshidabad, and in the event of 
 war between England and France being declared, to 
 capture the French settlement of Chandernagore 
 — fChandranagar). When the expedition reached the 
 Hughli, Clive wished the men under his command 
 to be taken on in the ships as far as Budge Budge 
 (Bajbaj) — a fortified place about ten miles from Cal- 
 cutta, which it was necessary to capture ; but Watson, 
 with his habitual perversity, insisted upon the troops 
 being landed at Mayapur, some miles further down, 
 thus obliging them to make a most fatiguing night 
 march through a swampy country covered with 
 jungle. The result was that they reached Budge 
 Budge in an exhausted condition, and being sur- 
 prised by the Nawdb's troops shortly after their 
 arrival, had a very narrow escape from destruction, 
 which was averted only by Clive's presence of 
 mind and readiness of resource. 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 5' 
 
 Clive says, in a letter to Pigot reporting this 
 affair a few days afterwards, — 
 
 'You must know our march from Mayapur to 
 the northward of Budge Budge was much against 
 my inclinations. I applied to the Admiral for 
 boats to land us at the place we arrived at after 
 sixteen hours' march by land. The men suffered 
 hardships not easily to be described ; it was four in 
 the afternoon when we decamped from Mayapur, 
 and we did not arrive off Budge Budge until past 
 eight next morning. At nine the Grenadier 
 company and all the Sepoys were despatched to 
 the fort, where I heard Captain Coote was landed 
 with the King's troops. At ten, Manickchand, 
 the Governor of Calcutta, attacked us with 
 between two and three thousand horse and foot, 
 and was worsted. . . . Manickchand himself received 
 a shot in his turban. Our two - field pieces were 
 of little or no service to us, having neither tubes 
 nor portfires, and heavy carriages were sent with 
 them from Fort St David. Indeed, we still labour 
 under every disadvantage in the world for want of the 
 Marlborough. It seems the enemy were encamped 
 within two miles of us, and we ignorant of the matter. 
 So much for the intelligence of the country.' 
 
 There can be no doubt that Clive sustained a 
 surprise that might have been prevented had the 
 ordinary precautions been used ; but in the circum- 
 stances there is much allowance to be made. Clive 
 
52 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 himself was ill, and had suffered much from the 
 fatiguing night march which he and his men had 
 gone through, owing to Watson's wrong-headed 
 obstinacy. But notwithstanding illness and fatigue, 
 and the unexpected appearance of a hostile force, 
 Clive on this, as on other occasions, never for a 
 moment lost his nerve. He at once rallied his men, 
 who, awakened out of their sleep by being fired upon, 
 were at first thrown into confusion, and then with 
 scarcely a pause made dispositions which retrieved 
 the situation, although not without heavy loss to 
 the English. 
 
 When Watson and Clive entered the river, they 
 found at Falta some of the fugitives from Calcutta, 
 and the scanty remains of a small force which, 
 on the receipt of intelligence of the seizure of 
 Kdsimbazdr, but before the news of the Black 
 Hole tragedy had arrived, the Madras authorities 
 had sent to Bengal under Major Kilpatrick. Clive, 
 after beating off Manickchand's army, was met by 
 Major Kilpatrick, who had been sent to his aid with 
 reinforcements. In the meantime, Watson had bom- 
 barded Budge Budge from his ships, and had effected a 
 breach in the ramparts of the fort. Clive had arranged 
 to assault the fort the next day, when a drunken 
 sailor, discovering the breach, entered it alone, and 
 firing his pistol among a small group of the defenders 
 who were sitting near, shouted out, * The fort is mine,' 
 accompanying the exclamation by three loud cheers. 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 53 
 
 He was at once attacked, but defended himself 
 valiantly, and some of the English soldiers and Sepoys 
 coming up, the garrison abandoned the fort, which 
 was taken possession of by Captain Eyre Coote, who 
 had come up from Madras with the detachment of 
 the 39th Foot. The squadron, with the troops, then 
 moved on to Calcutta, which surrendered on the 2d 
 January, Manickchand having evacuated the place 
 and returned with his army to the headquarters of 
 the Nawib at Murshidabad. Then occurred another 
 of Watson's arbitrary and ill-judged proceedings. 
 Notwithstanding the orders of the Madras Govern- 
 ment, investing Clive with military and political control 
 in Bengal, Watson appointed Coote, whose rank was 
 that of captain, to be Governor of Fort William. 
 Clive declined to permit this arrangement, claiming 
 the command as the senior officer, and threatened to 
 place Coote under arrest if he disobeyed his orders. 
 Thereupon Watson threatened to fire upon the fort 
 unless Clive gave it up. The matter ended in a com- 
 promise, Clive surrendering the fort to Watson on 
 condition that it was afterwards handed over to the 
 representatives of the Company. In this, and in other 
 disputes with Watson, Clive appears to have kept his 
 temper, while acting with firmness. Writing to Mr 
 Pigot, Clive describes this aiFair in the following 
 words : — 
 
 'I cannot help regretting that I ever undertook 
 this expedition. The mortifications I have received 
 
54 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 from Mr Watson' and the gentlemen of the squadron 
 in point of prerogative are such that nothing but the 
 good of the service could induce me to submit to 
 them. The morning the enemy quitted Calcutta, a 
 party of our Sepoys entered the fort at the same time 
 with a detachment from the ships, and were ignomini- 
 ously thrust out. Upon coming near the fort myself, 
 I w^as informed that there were orders that none of 
 the Company's officers or troops should have entrance. 
 This, I own, enraged me to such a degree that I was 
 resolved to enter if possible, which I did, though not 
 in the manner maliciously reported, by forcing the 
 sentries ; for they suffered me to pass very patiently 
 upon being informed who I was. At my entrance 
 Captain Coote presented me with a commission from 
 Admiral Watson appointing him Governor of Fort 
 William, which I knew not a syllable of before ; and 
 it seems this dirty underhand contrivance was carried 
 on in the most secret manner, under a pretence that 
 I intended the same thing, which I declare never 
 entered my thoughts. The affair was compromised 
 by the Admiral consenting that I should be Governor, 
 and that the Company's troops should remain in the 
 fort. The next day the Admiral delivered up the fort 
 to the Company's representatives in the King's name.' 
 Watson, it would seem, could not bring himself to 
 
 1 It should be remembered that at that time it was the fashion in 
 private letters and in society to describe naval and military officers as 
 if they were civilians, and not by their naval or military rank. See 
 Thackeray's novels. 
 
LORD CLIVE 55 
 
 recognise the fact that Clive was not only an officer 
 of the East India Company, but had been granted a 
 jroyal commission. In this he showed himself both 
 stupid and headstrong. Notwithstanding this petty 
 jealousy of the Company's service, a jealousy in 
 which he was by no means singular, he was an 
 honourable man, desirous, according to his lights, to 
 serve his King and country ; and in the important 
 transactions which afterwards took place, his co-opera- 
 tion with Clive appears to have been fairly cordial. 
 It was otherwise with the Council at Calcutta, 
 who greatly resented the independent powers which 
 had been conferred upon Clive by the Madras 
 authorities. At that early period those presidential 
 jealousies which have so often interfered with the 
 efficient administration of Indian affairs, and even now 
 are not entirely extinguished, appear to have existed 
 in full force. The Select Committee at Calcutta, as 
 the Governor's Council was then designated, called 
 upon Clive to surrender the powers with which he 
 had been invested, and to place himself under them. 
 His reply was a decided refusal. ' I do not,' he wrote, 
 ' intend to make use of my power for acting separately 
 from you, without you reduce me to the necessity of 
 so doing ; but as far as concerns the means of execut- 
 ing these powers, you will excuse me, gentlemen, if I 
 refuse to give them up. I cannot do it without forfeit- 
 ing the trust reposed in me by the Select Committee 
 of Fort St George. It does not become me, as an in- 
 
56 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 dividual, to give my opinion w^hether the conduct of the 
 gentlemen of Fort St George has been faulty or not. 
 That point must be determined by our superiors.' 
 
 The attitude of the Calcutta Committee wzs 
 described by Clive in a letter to his friend Pigot 
 in the followring terms, 'I am sorry to say the loss 
 of private property and the means of recovering it 
 seem to be the only objects which take up the 
 thoughts of the Bengal gentlemen. Believe me, 
 they are bad subjects and rotten at heart, and will 
 stick at nothing to prejudice you and the gentle- 
 men of the Committee. Indeed, how should they do 
 otherwise when they have not spared one another ? 
 I shall only add, their conduct at Calcutta finds 
 no excuse even among themselves, and that the 
 riches of Peru and Mexico should not induce me 
 to dwell among them.' 
 
 Immediately after the recapture of Calcutta, Clive, 
 I in conjunction with Watson, moved up the river to 
 Hughli, and captured that place without difficulty, 
 securing booty which was estimated at ^^ 15,000, and 
 destroying some large and valuable granaries. They 
 had also planned an expedition to Dacca, the capital 
 of Eastern Bengal, when they learnt that the Nawdb 
 was again marching upon Calcutta with a large force. 
 A battle ensued on the 5th February, in which 
 Clive, with 1350 Europeans, 800 Sepoys and 7 field 
 guns, beat the Nawdb's force of 40,000 men, in- 
 cluding 18,000 cavalry, 40 guns and 50 elephants. 
 
LORD CLIVE 57 
 
 The greater part of the battle was fought in a dense 
 fog, and Clive's men, losing their way, came under 
 the fire of their own guns and of those in Fort William. 
 At one time the position of the troops was very 
 critical. The English loss was heavy, amounting 
 to 57 killed and 117 wounded, of whom 39, and 
 82, respectively, were Europeans, and it included 
 Clive's aide-de-camp and secretary, who were 
 killed by his side. But the battle, although attended 
 by this heavy loss to the English, was even more 
 disastrous to the Nawdb's troops, whose casualties 
 amounted to 1300, among whom were 2 noblemen 
 of high rank and 22 of lesser note. 
 
 Clive's account of the engagement is contained in 
 the following letter, addressed by him, a few weeks 
 after it was fought, to the Duke of Newcastle. It 
 has been for many years deposited among the manu- 
 scripts in the British Museum, whence, by the kind- 
 ness of Dr Richard Garnett, a copy has been furnished 
 to the writer of this Memoir. It is believed that the 
 letter has not been published before. 
 
 ' From Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Clive to 
 Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of New- 
 castle, First Lord of the Treasury. 
 
 ' May it please your Grace, — The countenance your 
 Grace was pleased to shew me when I left England 
 encourages me to address you on the subject of the 
 East India Company. 
 
58 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ' No doubt your Grace hath been acquainted with 
 the capture of the Town of Calcutta and Fort William 
 by the Moors, the principal settlement in the Kingdom 
 of Bengali and of the utmost consequence to the E. 
 India Company. The loss of private property only 
 is computed at more than 2 millions sterling. 
 
 ' When this unfortunate news arrived at Madrass, 
 the President and Council aplyed to Vice-Admiral 
 Watson for assistance in recovering the rights and 
 possessions of the Province of Bengal, and for the 
 same purpose ordered a large body of land forces 
 to embark under my command ; and I have the 
 pleasure to inform your Grace this expedition by 
 sea and land has been crown'd with all the success 
 that could be wished. 
 
 ' The Town of Calcutta and Fort William was 
 soon retaken, with several other Forts belonging 
 to the Enemy. This news brought down the 
 Nabob, or Prince of the Country, himselfe at the 
 head of 20,000 horse and 30,000 foot, 25 pieces of 
 cannon, with a great number of elephants — our 
 little army, consisting of 700 Europeans and 1 200 
 blacks, arm'd and disciplin'd after the English 
 manner, lay encamped about 5 miles from the 
 Town of Calcutta. On the 4th of February the 
 Nabob's Army appear'd in sight, and past our 
 camp at the distance of i| miles, and encamp'd 
 on the back of the town. Several parties of their 
 horse past within 400 yards of our advanc'd battery, 
 
LORD CLIVE 59 
 
 but as wee entertain'd great hopes of a peace from 
 the Nabob's promises, wee did not fire upon them. 
 'On the 5th, agreeable to the Nabob's desire, I 
 despatch'd two gentlemen to wait upon him, in 
 hopes everything might be settled without drawing-' 
 the sword, but the haughtiness and disrespect with' 
 which he treated them convinced me nothing could 
 be expected by mild measures. This determin'd met 
 to attack his camp in the night time, for which pur-i 
 pose I aply'd to Admiral Watson for 500 sailors to\ 
 draw our cannon, which he readily sent me, and at 
 3 o'clock in the morning our little army, consisting 
 of 600 Europeans, 500 blacks, 7 feild pieces and 
 the sailors above mentioned, set out for the 
 attack. A little before day break wee entred the 
 camp, and received a very brisk fire. This did not 
 stop the progress of our troops, which march'd thro' 
 the enemie's camp upwards of 4 miles in length. Wee 
 were more than 2 hours passing, and what escaped 
 the van was destroy'd by the rear. Wee were 
 obliged to keep a constant fire of artillery and 
 musketry the whole time. A body of 300 of the 
 enemy's horse made a gallant charge, but were re- 
 ceived with so much coolness by the military that 
 ie.w escaped. Several other brisk charges were made 
 on our rear, but to no purpose, and wee returned safe 
 to camp, having killed by the best accounts 1300 men 
 and between 5 and 600 horse, with 4 elephants ; the 
 loss on our side 200 men killed and wounded. This 
 
6o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 blow had its effect, for the next day the army decamp'd 
 and the Nabob sent me a letter offering terms of 
 accomodation ; and I have the pleasure of acquaint- 
 ing your Grace a firm peace is concluded, greatly 
 to the honour and advantage of the Company, and 
 the Nabob has entered into an alliance offensive and 
 defensive with them, and is return'd to his capital 
 at Muxadavad. 
 
 ' As I have already been honour'd with your 
 Grace's protection and favour, I flatter my selfe 
 with the continuance of it, and that, if your Grace 
 thinks me deserving, your Grace will recommend 
 me to the Court of Directors. — I am, with the 
 greatest respect, your Grace's most devoted humble 
 servant, Robert Clive. 
 
 ' Camp near Calcotta, 
 '23^ Fehry. 1757.' 
 
 The terms of the treaty were exceedingly favour- 
 able to the Company. All the privileges formerly 
 granted to the English were renewed, all trade covered 
 by English passes was freed, all property of the Com- 
 pany or of its servants or tenants which had been 
 taken by the Nawdb's officers to servants was to be 
 restored ; the English were to fortify Calcutta, and 
 to coin money as they might deem proper. The 
 Nawdb, on the nth February, began his return march 
 to his capital, previously commissioning Omichand, 
 in whose garden the late battle had been fought, to 
 propose a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, 
 
LORD CLIVE 6i 
 
 with the English. This treaty was accepted and 
 signed by Clive and Watson, not without some hesi- 
 tation on the part of the latter, who, the day after 
 the fight in the outskirts of Calcutta, advised Clive to 
 renew his attack. Clive, howevQr, dreaded a combina- 
 tion between the French and the Nawdb, and regarded 
 the French settlement at Chandernagore (Chan dranagar) 
 as a serious danger to Calcutta. He had learnt, when 
 at Hughli, that war had been again declared between 
 England and France, and before leaving Madras he 
 had been instructed by the' Government there that, 
 in the event of a war with France again breaking 
 out in Europe, he was to capture Chandernagore. 
 Moreover, the Madras Government were urging him 
 to return with the force under his command to 
 Madras, where they apprehended a renewal of the 
 contest with the French at Pondicherry under the 
 leadership of M. Lally {Tollendal, a far abler man 
 than the successor of Dupleix. Still the situation 
 was by no means clear and at one time Clive was 
 in favour of accepting a proposal made by M. Renault, 
 the Governor of Chandernagore, that the English and 
 French authorities in Bengal should maintain a neutral 
 attitude. Watson, however, was opposed to signing 
 any treaty to this effect, arguing that the Governor of 
 Chandernagore was not competent to execute any such 
 treaty without the sanction of the Governor of Pondi- 
 cherry, and that, if executed, it would not be binding 
 on De Bussy and the other French commanders. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ARRIVAL OF BRITISH REINFORCEMENTS — CAPTURE 
 OF CHANDERNAGORE REASONS FOR CLIVE RE- 
 MAINING IN BENGAL PLOT AGAINST THE NAWAB 
 
 -^OVERTURES MADE BY MiR JAFAR TREATY 
 
 WITH OMICHAND A REAL TREATY AND A SHAM 
 
 TREATY PROVISIONS OF THE REAL TREATY 
 
 WATSOn's ATTITUDE IN THE MATTER. 
 
 The state of things in the districts north of Madras 
 now engaged Clive's attention. De Bussy, who^ 
 was the ablest of the French generals, h^d been 
 sent by Dupleix after the battle of Ambur to the 
 Dekhan, where he speedily acquired a commanding 
 influence. He had obtained possession for the 
 French of the four northern districts of what is 
 now the Madras Presidency, commonly known as the 
 Northern Sirkdrs. Having recently quarrelled with 
 the Nizam, Salibat Jung, whom he had placed upon 
 the throne of Dekhan, De Bussy had distinguished 
 himself by his brilliant defence of a post he had 
 taken up at Chdrmahal, close to Hydarabad. At 
 this time he was in the Northern Sirkdrs, and 
 within three hundred miles of Calcutta. He had 
 
 62 
 
LORD CLIVE 63 
 
 under his command a considerable force, composed 
 of Frenchmen and trained native Sepoys. He had 
 been urged by the Nawdb of Bengal to come to 
 Chandernagore and to aid him in expelling the English 
 from Bengal. M. Law, who had failed so signally 
 at Trichinopoly, but in many respects was an able 
 man, was actually at Chandernagore. In those 
 circumstances Clive held that if the treaty was not 
 to be immediately executed, no time should be lost 
 in attacking Chandernagore. The Council at 
 Calcutta had to be consulted, but their opinions 
 were so discordant, and one of them, Mr Drake's, 
 so unintelligible, that the question was decided by 
 Clive, in conjunction with Major Kilpatrick, in 
 favour of the attack, in which Admiral Watson 
 was requested to co-operate with his squadron. At 
 this juncture intelligence v/as received of an important 
 reinforcement having arrived from Bombay at the 
 mouth of the Hughli, under Commodore James, and 
 of the arrival in the river Baleshwar, one of the 
 tributaries of the Ganges,, of the long delayed 
 Cumberland^ with Admiral Pocock and a de- 
 tachment of the 39th Foot. This intelligence 
 would seem to have dispelled any doubts which 
 Watson may have entertained as to the wisdom 
 of proceeding with the attack. Both he, however, 
 and Clive deemed it advisable to obtain the assent 
 of the Nawib to the proposed attack, and this, after 
 a characteristic correspondence between Watson 
 
64 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and the Nawib, and a good deal of wavering on 
 the part of the latter, was ultimately obtained on 
 the 13th March. On the same day Clive demanded 
 the surrender of the place ; but this was refused, 
 the fort being well fortified both on the land and 
 on the river side. It was not taken without severe 
 fighting, and it is doubtful whether the combined 
 forces under Clive and Watson would have sufficed 
 to capture it had there not been treachery in the 
 garrison. In anticipation of the attack, the French 
 had sunk vessels in the passage through which the 
 English ships would have to pass in order to get 
 abreast of the fort ; but the French engineer who 
 superintended the operation left a passage sufficiently 
 wide for the English ships to pass through in single 
 file, and then, deserting to the enemy, gave him 
 information which enabled him to carry out his 
 intended movements. The French fought with the 
 greatest gallantry, but were eventually obliged to 
 capitulate on the 23d March. The main burden 
 of the fighting fell upon the ships which, in making 
 their way along the narrow passage already referred 
 to in the face of a heavy fire from the fortj 
 accomplished a feat memorable in naval history. 
 Clive subsequently, in evidence before the House of 
 Commons, stated that 'Admiral Watson's fleet sur- 
 mounted difficulties which he believed no other 
 ships could have done, and that it was impossible 
 for him to do the officers of the squadron justice on 
 
LORD CLIVE 65 
 
 that occasion.' 'The English ships were anchored 
 so close to the fort that the musketry from the tops 
 and poops was most annoying to the enemy, who 
 behaved with great gallantry, keeping up a heavy 
 and destructive fire, nor did they offer to capitulate 
 until their batteries were a heap of ruins, and all 
 their guns dismounted,' ' According to Sir Charles 
 Wilson, ' the Admiral's flag-ship was hulled more 
 than a hundred times, and every oiKcer but one 
 was killed or wounded.' 
 
 Clive with his land force rendered material help, 
 driving the French from batteries which they 
 had placed both on the north and south sides 
 of the fort, and occupying houses which the 
 French Governor had not time to destroy, and which 
 gave to Clive's men some, though an imperfect, 
 shelter from the guns of the fort. The loss on 
 both sides was heavy, but it was heavier on the 
 side of the English. The forces engaged were 
 numerically small. On the side of the French, 
 out of 500 European soldiers, 150 were killed or 
 wounded, while on the English side the casualties 
 amounted to 206. 
 
 During the whole of this time the Madras 
 authorities were pressing Clive to bring back his 
 force to Madras, where, owing to the renewal of the 
 war in Europe, serious apprehension was entertained 
 of another attack from Pondicherry under the leader- 
 
 ' See Malcolm's Life of Clive, vol. i., p. 192. 
 E 
 
66 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ship of the famous M. Lally de ToUendal, who was 
 
 expected there with a French fleet ; but Clive re- 
 
 , ^garded the destruction of French power in Bengal . 
 
 J as a matter of the gravest importance, feeling that 
 
 \ the English and their European rivals could not co- 
 
 \ exist as political powers in India. Impressed by this 
 
 '.consideration, Clive, very shortly after the capture 
 
 <)f Chandernagore, called upon the Nawab, through 
 
 Mr Watts, the Company's agent at Murshidabad, 
 
 either to surrender to the British, or to expel from 
 
 Bengal any Frenchmen remaining in his territory. 
 
 Watson took a similar view, and expressed it in 
 
 language stronger even than that used by Clive. 
 
 In a letter to the Nawdb, dated the 19th April 
 
 1757, he wrote that while a Frenchman remained 
 
 in Bengal he 'would never cease pursuing him.' 
 
 But the necessity of expelling the French from 
 
 Bengal was not the only motive which induced 
 
 Clive to delay his return to Madras. The character 
 
 of the Nawab, and the incompetence of the Calcutta 
 
 -Council, furnished cogent reasons why he should 
 
 V' remain at that juncture in Bengal. Clive had 
 
 already discovered that the Nawdb, treacherous as 
 
 he was cruel, was not to be relied upon to fulfil 
 
 any engagement, however solemnly entered into. 
 
 During the siege of Chandernagore he had alternately 
 
 threatened and courted Mr Watts. On hearing 
 
 of the capture of Chandernagore he was filled with 
 
 rage, and gave vent to his feelings in no measured 
 
LORD CLIVE 67 
 
 language. Shortly afterwards he sent letters to 
 Watson and Clive congratulating them on their 
 victory, and offering them the territory of Chander- 
 nagore on the same terms on which it had been 
 held by the French, and further offering to restore 
 or make compensation for the property which had 
 been destroyed at the capture of Calcutta in 1756. 
 It seems probable that in making these offers the 
 Nawdb was partly actuated by fear of a threatened 
 invasion of Bengal by the son of the Emperor of 
 Delhi, afterwards known as the Emperor Shah Alam. 
 
 Distrust of the Nawdb was by no means confined 
 to Clive. It was shared by all the English in Bengal. 
 It was also shared by many of the leading men among 
 the NawAb's own followers, who, disgusted by his 
 cowardice, his cruelty and his perfidy, were already 
 engaged in a plot to dethrone him. 
 
 The other reason which weighed with Clive in 
 declining to comply with the orders from Madras, 
 viz., the unfitness of the gentlemen composing the 
 Calcutta Council, or Select Committee, as it was 
 then called, to deal with any sudden crisis, was also 
 very important. These persons had shown that they 
 were individually weak and divided among themselves, 
 and that, when acting in a body, they were unable 
 to subordinate their own interests, as they regarded 
 them, to the interests of the public service. The 
 situation of Madras was very different. Both Stringer 
 Lawrence and Pigot were strong and capable men, 
 
68 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and might be trusted to do ail that was possible with 
 the means at their disposal. Moreover, during the 
 few months that Clive had been in Bengal, he had 
 become strongly impressed by the great natural re- 
 sources of the province, and by its importance from 
 a commercial point of view, and he felt that some 
 risk might well be incurred for the sake of secur- 
 ing for his countrymen, the advantages which must 
 result from maintaining an influential position in 
 Bengal. 
 
 After the capture of Chandernagore, Clive's distrust 
 of the Nawdb was intensified, not only by the in- 
 formation supplied by Mr Watts of his intrigues with 
 the French, but by his refusal to allow the passage of 
 a few Sepoys and of supplies of ammunition and stores 
 to the English factory at Kdsimbazir. Meanwhile, 
 Clive received from Watts information of the plot 
 already referred to, which had been formed by some 
 of the leading personages at the Nawib's court, to 
 dethrone him. These persons were Rajd Duldb Ram, 
 the finance minister, Mfr Jafar, the Commander-in- 
 Chief of the army, and Ydr Ldtif Khin, a man not of 
 the first rank, who would seem to have started the 
 conspiracy, stipulating that, if it succeeded, he should 
 be made Nawdb. There is some ground, however, 
 for supposing that the original suggestion emanated 
 from Jaggat Seth, a wealthy banker, who had received 
 personal insults from the Nawab. Another person 
 of considerable weight who was also implicated in the 
 
LORD CLIVE 69 
 
 plot, was Omichand, the wealthy Hindu, in whose 
 garden the Nawdb's camp had been pitched on 
 that foggy night in February when Clive marched 
 through it. On that occasion he sustained a some- 
 what heavy loss, but inflicted a much heavier loss upon 
 the troops of the Nawdb, and thereby frightened the 
 latter into treating for peace. At an early stage of 
 the proceedings Clive received overtures from Mir 
 Jafar, the Commander-in-Chief, who oiFered to aid 
 the English against the Nawib on condition that he 
 should succeed him. The events which followed in- 
 cluded what in some respects were the most brilliant, 
 and were certainly the most questionable, incidents in 
 Clive's career. While his military_rspatatt©«j-alfea4y'- 
 establishgd^. by th"e2^35f«33£eC<rf- Arcot^ -the .victor-y- at 
 Ttaverigdkj, and the operations befigre^TQiGhiBLopDly,-^ 
 rose higher than,, ever, and while he developed a 
 capacity Tor civil and political administration of the 
 highest order, the fame of his exploits was tarnished 
 by a breach of faith which it is impossible to justify, 
 and by the acceptance of large sums of money from 
 the native prince whom he placed upon the throne of 
 Bengal after the deposition of Surij ud Daulah. The 
 negotiations with Mir Jafar were principally con- 
 ducted through the agency of the Hindu, Omichand, 
 who, having entered into solemn engagements to 
 support the English cause, was accused of having 
 threatened to divulge the conspiracy to Suraj ud 
 Daulah, demanding thirty lakhs of rupees as the 
 
70 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 price of his silence. This story has been accepted 
 by successive historians of British India, and until 
 very recently by successive biographers of Clive. It 
 is mentioned by Orme, who, however, qualifies his 
 mention of it by using the words, ' It is said,' with- 
 out vouching for the correctness of the statement, 
 although not further throwing any doubt upon it. 
 It is accepted by Mill, by his annotator, Wilson, and 
 by Marshman. It is adopted by Malcolm in his Life 
 of Clive, by Macaulay in his famous Essay on Clive, 
 by Gleig, and by Sir Charles Wilson in the series or 
 English Men of Action. It is, however, strongly 
 questioned by Colonel Malleson in his memoir 
 published as recently as 1882, where for various 
 reasons he endeavours to show that there is no 
 evidence to prove it, and that in the circumstances 
 it is very improbable that Omichand, whatever his 
 secret intentions may have been, used any such 
 threat either in speech or in writing. But Colonel 
 Malleson does not question the fact that Omichand 
 made an excessive demand, or that at a meeting of 
 the Council, Clive denounced him as 'the greatest 
 villain upon earth.' 
 
 It had been settled that a treaty should be drawn 
 up, embodying the terms upon which Mir Jafar 
 should be placed upon the throne, and Omichand 
 had demanded that the payment to be made to him 
 should be inserted in the treaty. In order to defeat 
 the latter demand, Clive resorted to the expedient, 
 
LORD CLTVE 71 
 
 which was sanctioned by the Calcutta Council, of 
 drawing up two treaties, one on white paper, and the 
 other on red paper. In the white treaty, which was 
 the real one, no mention was made of any payment 
 to Omichand. In the red treaty, which was shewn 
 to Omichand, but which was not the document 
 given to Mir Jafar, the payment to be made 
 to Omichand was set forth in full. It appears 
 that Admiral Watson, who in all the operations in 
 Bengal up to that time had been associated with 
 Clive, declined to sign the red treaty. It was feared 
 that the absence of Watson's signature would be 
 noticed by Omichand, and might therefore lead to 
 the disclosure of the plot. Accordingly Watson's 
 signature was attached to the red treaty by another 
 person — -by Clive, according to Macaulay, but if not 
 by Clive, at all events under his orders. On the 
 strength of evidence subsequently given by Clive, 
 Sir John Malcolm, who defends the transaction as 
 a pious and necessary fraud, represents that Watson, 
 while refusing to affix his signature to the fictitious 
 treaty, did not object to its being done for him. At 
 any fate, he did not resent the use which was made 
 of his name ; for before the expedition started for 
 Plassey, and after having been made fully acquainted 
 with what had taken place, he wrote to Clive in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 ' I am glad to hear that Mi'r Jafar's party increases. 
 I hope everything will turn out in the expedition to 
 
72 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 your wishes, and that I may soon have to congratulate 
 you on the success of it. I most heartily pray for 
 your health and a speedy return crowned with laurels.' 
 It is also the fact that after the plot succeeded, 
 Watson claimed a share in the plunder. Clive to 
 the last maintained that, looking to Omichand's 
 misconduct, the artifice which had been resorted to 
 was perfectly justifiable, and that while he believed 
 that Watson had authorised Mr Lushington to 
 attach his signature to the fictitious treaty, he would, 
 in the circumstances, have ordered Watson's name 
 to be attached, whether he had consented or not. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TERMS OF THE TREATIES ADVANCE TOWARDS 
 
 PLASSEY olive's LETTER TO THE NAwAb 
 
 HIS ANXIOUS POSITION ARRIVAL AT KATW^A 
 
 COUNCIL OF VV^AR CLIVE VOTES FOR DELAY 
 
 HIS CHANGE OF MIND ARRIVAL AT PLASSEY 
 
 CLIVE's DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE FATE OF 
 
 SUrAj UD DAULAH SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF 
 
 OMICHAND. 
 
 The treaties were signed on 19th May, and were 
 at once sent to Mfr Jafar for signature. The real 
 treaty provided for an oiFensive and defensive alliance 
 with Mfr Jafar ; for a prohibition against any re- 
 settlement of the French in Bengal, and for the 
 transfer of their factories to the English Company ; 
 foj compensation for English losses at Calcutta, viz., 
 to the Company, ^1,000,000 ; to the European 
 inhabitants, ^^500,000 ; to the native inhabitants, 
 ;^ 200,000 ; to the Armenians, j^ 70,000 ; for the 
 cession of all land within the Mahratta Ditch and 
 600 yards beyond it ; for the cession to the Company 
 of the Zemiddri of the country to the south of 
 Calcutta as far as Kalpi, subject to the payment of 
 
 73 
 
74 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the customary rent ; for the payment by the Nawdb 
 of all English troops sent to his assistance, and for 
 a prohibition against the erection of any new forts 
 below Hughli. Under a supplementary treaty, Mir 
 Jafar was to pay ^^500,000 to the army and navy, 
 and j^ 1 20,000 to the Members of Council. 
 
 Mir Jafar's signature to the treaty was received 
 on the 1 2th June, and Clive's force at once advanced. 
 On that day all the troops quartered at Calcutta, 
 together with 150 sailors from the fleet, crossed 
 over to Chandernagore, where they joined the 
 remainder of the force already quartered at the 
 latter place. The Europeans, including the artillery, 
 were sent up the river in 200 boats, the Sepoys 
 marching by land. On the 13th June, Clive de- 
 spatched to the Nawab a letter which was practically 
 a declaration of war. It arraigned the Nawib for 
 his breach of treaty, and informed him that Clive 
 had determined, with the approbation of all who 
 were charged with the Company's affairs, to proceed 
 immediately to Kdsimbazdr, and to submit the dispute 
 with the Nawdb to the arbitration of Mir Jafar, 
 Rdjd Dulab Rim, Jaggat Seth, and 'others of your 
 Highness' great men.' ' If these,' he wrote, ' decide 
 that I have deviated from the treaty, then I swear 
 to give up all further claims upon your Highness ; 
 but if it should appear that your Highness has broken 
 faith, then I shall demand satisfaction for all the 
 losses sustained by the English, and all the charges 
 
LORD CLIVE 75 
 
 of the army and navy.' The letter ended with 
 an intimation that as the rains were at hand, and it 
 would take many days to receive an answer, the writer 
 would ' wait upon the Nawdb at his capital to receive 
 satisfaction.' - The attitude which Clive adopted was 
 bold and defiant, but, for all that, Clive was by no 
 means free from anxiety. It was not at all certain 
 that Mir Jafar would adhere to his agreement. He 
 was to have joined Clive at Katwa with a friendly 
 force, but instead of doing so he merely sent Clive 
 a letter promising to join him on the field of battle. 
 On the 14th, Clive's force reached Kalna, where it 
 was joined by Watts, who had escaped from Mur- 
 shidabad on the previous day. On the 17th, they 
 captured Katwa, with its fortress, after a slight resist- 
 ance, and found the place well stocked with grain. 
 On the 19th, while they halted at Katwa, the 
 monsoon rains set in, and the troops, who were lodged 
 in tents, had to take shelter in huts and small houses. 
 On the same day Clive, whose anxiety continued to 
 be very great, addressed the following letter to the 
 Committee at Calcutta : — 
 
 ' I feel the greatest anxiety at the little intelligence 
 I receive from Mir Jafar, and if he is not treacherous,' 
 his sang froid or want of strength will, I fear, overset 
 the expedition. I am trying a last eiFort by means 
 of a Brahmin to prevail upon him to march out and 
 join us. I have appointed Plassey as the place of 
 rendezvous, and have told him at the same time that 
 
76 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 unless he gives this or some other sufficient proof of 
 the sincerity of his intentions, I will not cross the 
 river. This, I hope, w^ill meet with your approbation. 
 1 shall act with such caution as not to risk the loss 
 of our forces ; and whilst we have them, we may 
 always have it in our power to bring about a revolu- 
 tion, though the present should not succeed. They 
 say there is a considerable quantity of grain in and 
 about the place. If we collect eight or ten thousand 
 maunds' (eight or ten hundred thousand pounds), 'we 
 may maintain our situation during the rains, which will 
 greatly distress the Nawib, and either reduce him to 
 terms which may be depended upon, or give us time 
 to bring in the Birbhiim Raja, the Mahrattas, or 
 Ghdzi ud din. I desire you will give your sentiments 
 freely how you think I should act if Mfr Jafar can 
 give us no assistance.' 
 
 The situation was certainly a very alarming one. 
 Clive had only 3200 men to oppose to what proved 
 to be an army of 50,000. He had no cavalry, and 
 only a few guns, while the enemy had a large artillery 
 force. In the circumstances, it is perhaps hardly to 
 be wondered at that Clive should desire to share the 
 responsibility. This he did, for what proved to be the 
 first and last time in his life, by holding a council of 
 war, to which he propounded the following question : 
 'Whether, in our present situation, without assist- 
 ance, and on our own bottom, it would be prudent to 
 attack the Nawdb, or whether we should wait till 
 
LORD CLIVE 77 
 
 joined by some country power.'' Of the sixteen 
 Members of the Council, nine, including Clive, voted 
 for delay, and seven, including Eyre Coote, were for 
 an immediate attack. But Clive did not adhere to 
 his original vote. After the Council had risen, he 
 withdrew to a clump of trees, and having passed an 
 hour in thinking over all the arguments for and 
 against delay, he determined to move forward at once. 
 Meeting Eyre Coote on his way back to camp, he 
 told him he had changed his mind, and intended to 
 march the next morning. Accordingly, in the early 
 morning of the 22d June, the force marched down 
 the bank of the Bhdghirathi, and crossed the river 
 the same afternoon without meeting with any oppo- 
 sition. There still remained fifteen miles to be 
 traversed in order to reach Plassey. Clive's force, after 
 struggling through mud and water in a continued 
 torrent of rain, did not arrive at the village until one 
 o'clock on the morning of the 23d. Clive had heard 
 from Mir Jafar that the Nawdb's army would halt at 
 Mankdrah, a place some miles short of Plassey ; but 
 the Nawdb had changed his plans, and reached 
 Plassey twelve hours before Clive. Thus, on his ar- 
 rival, Clive found that the enemy were close at hand. 
 
 ' Colonel Malleson states the question which was put to the Council 
 in the following terms : — ' Whether the army should at once cross into 
 the island of Kasimbazar, and at all risks attaclc the Nawab ; or whether, 
 availing themselves of the large supplies of rice they had taken at Katwa, 
 they should maintain themselves during the rainy season, and in the 
 meantime invite the co-operation of the Mahrattas.' 
 
78 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 He spent the remainder of the night making his 
 dispositions, while his troops bivouacked in an exten- 
 sive mango grove on ground already soaked by the 
 rain, which was still falling. The mango grove was 
 800 yards in length and 300 in breadth, and was sur- 
 rounded by a bank and a ditch. About 50 yards 
 beyond it stood a hunting box belonging to the 
 Nawdb of Oude. Of this Clive at once took posses- 
 sion. The grove was little more than a mile from 
 the Nawab's encampment. The force under Clive, as 
 stated, did not exceed 3200 men, of whom 900 were 
 English, 200 were Eurasians, and 2100 native Sepoys. 
 There was a small artillery train, composed of eight 
 six pounders and two small howitzers. The Nawab's 
 army, so far as numerical strength was concerned, 
 was enormously superior to Clive's force. It consisted 
 of 35,000 infantry, for the most part imperfectly 
 trained and undisciplined, and 15,000 cavalry well 
 mounted and well armed. He had 53 pieces of 
 artillery, most of them of heavy calibre, and with 
 them 40 or 50 Frenchmen commanded by M. St 
 Frais, who had been a member of the French Council 
 at Chandernagore. His army occupied a strongly 
 intrenched position. His right rested on the river, 
 while his left stretched out into the open plain. 
 
 The following is a brief description of the battle, 
 taken from Clive's journal of military proceedings : — • 
 
 ' At daybreak we discovered the Nawdb's army at 
 
 ' See Colonel Wilson's History of the Madras Army, vol. i., p. 83. 
 
LORD CLIVE 79 
 
 the distance of about three miles in full march towards 
 us, upon which the whole were ordered under arms, 
 being in two battalions. The Europeans were told 
 off in four grand divisions, the artillery distributed 
 between them, and the Sepoys on the right and left 
 of the whole. 
 
 ' Our situation was very advantageous, being in a 
 grove surrounded by high mud banks. Our right 
 and front were entirely covered by those mud banks, 
 our left by Placis' house and the river, our rear by 
 the grove and a large village. The enemy approached 
 apace, covered a fine extensive plain in front of us as 
 far as the eye could discern from right to left, and 
 consisted, as we have since learned, of 15,000 horse and 
 35,000 foot, with more than 40 pieces of cannon, 
 from thirty-two to nine pounders. They began to 
 cannonade from this heavy artillery, which, though 
 well pointed, could do little execution, our people 
 being lodged under the banks. We could not hope 
 to succeed in an attempt on their cannon, as they 
 were planted almost round, and at a considerable 
 distance both from us and each other. We therefore 
 remained quiet in front, in hopes of a successful attack 
 on their camp at night. At 300 yards from the bank 
 under which we were posted was a pool of water 
 with high banks all round it, and was apparently 
 a post of strength. This the enemy presently took 
 possession of, and would have galled us much from 
 thence, but for our advantageous position, with some 
 
8o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 cannon managed by 50 Frenchmen. This heavy 
 artillery continued to play very briskly on the grove, 
 ' As their army, exclusive of a few advanced parties, 
 were drawn up at too great a distance for our short 
 sixes to reach them, one field piece with a howitzer 
 was advanced 200 yards in front, and we could see 
 that they played with great success amongst those 
 that were of the first rank, by which the whole 
 army was dispirited and thrown into confusion. 
 
 ' A large body of their horse starting out on our 
 right, and as by that movement we supposed they 
 intended an attempt on the advanced field piece 
 and howitzer, they were both ordered back. 
 
 ' About eleven o'clock a very heavy shower of rain 
 came on, and we imagined the horse would now, if 
 ever, have attacked in hopes of breaking us, as they 
 might have thought we could not then make use of 
 our firelocks ; but their ignorance or the brisk firing 
 of our artillery prevented them from attempting it. 
 
 ' At noon, a report being made that a party of horse 
 had attacked and taken our boats, the pickets were 
 ordered, but the account proving false, they were 
 countermanded. 
 
 ' The enemy's fire now began to slacken, and soon 
 after entirely ceased. In this situation we remained 
 until two o'clock, when, perceiving that most of the 
 enemy were returned to their camp, it was thought 
 a proper opportunity to seize one of the eminences 
 from which the enemy had much annoyed us in the 
 
LORD CLIVE 81 
 
 morning. Accordingly, the Grenadiers of the ist 
 Battalion, with two field pieces and a body of Sepoys, 
 supported by four platoons and two field pieces from 
 the 2d Battalion, were ordered to take possession of 
 it, which accordingly they did. 
 
 ' This encouraged us to take possession of another 
 advanced post within 300 yards of the entrance to the 
 enemy's camp. 
 
 ' All these motions brought the enemy out a second 
 time, but in attempting to bring out their cannon they 
 were so galled by our artillery that they could not 
 effect it, notwithstanding they made several attempts. 
 Their horse and foot, however, advanced much nearer 
 than in the morning, and by their motions made as if 
 they intended to charge ; two or three large bodies 
 being within 150 yards. In this situation they stood 
 a considerable time a very brisk and severe cannonade, 
 which killed them upwards of 400 men, among whom 
 were four or five principal officers. This loss put the 
 enemy into great confusion, and encouraged us to 
 attack the entrance into their camp and an adjacent 
 eminence at the same time. This we effected with 
 little or no loss, although the former was defended 
 by the 50 French and a very large body of black 
 infantry, and the latter by a large body of horse and 
 foot intermixt together. During the heat of the 
 action the remainder of the forces were two or three 
 times ordered to join us, and that order as often 
 countermanded on account of the movement of a 
 
82 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 large body of horse towards the grove, whom we had 
 often fired upon to keep at a proper distance. Those 
 afterwards proved to be our friends, commanded by 
 M{r Jafar. The entrance to the camp being gained, 
 a general rout ensued, and the whole army continued 
 the pursuit for upwards of six miles, which, for want 
 of horse, answered no other purpose than that of 
 taking all their artillery, consisting of forty pieces of 
 cannon, and all their baggage.' 
 
 Such is the account which Clive gave of the battle 
 in a journal written by him very shortly after, if not 
 on, the day after it was fought. It cannot be said 
 that it furnishes a very clear or full narrative of the 
 events of the day. It does not mention the death of 
 Mir Mudin, the Nawib's only faithful general, which 
 appears to have occurred shortly after eleven o'clock, 
 and was really the crisis of the battle. It contains no 
 statement of the loss sustained, which, however, was 
 very slight. Orme gives some particulars, but as 
 regards the Europeans in a very imperfect form. He 
 states : ' This important victory was gained with little 
 loss, only sixteen Sepoys were killed and thirty-six 
 wounded. And of the Europeans about twenty were 
 killed and wounded, of which number six of the killed 
 and ten of the wounded were of the artillery, as were 
 likewise the two officers who were wounded during 
 the different operations of the day.' The numbers of 
 killed and wounded are given somewhat more in detail 
 by Malleson, although his totals agree with those 
 
LORD CLIVE S3 
 
 given by Orme. By Malleson's account, seven 
 Europeans were killed and sixteen vsfounded. Accord- 
 ing to both these writers, the total number of killed 
 and wounded in Clive's force was seventy-two. The 
 loss on the Nawib's side appears to have been between 
 five and six hundred. 
 
 Considering the great disparity of numbers, the loss 
 to Clive's force was ridiculously small. Indeed, as Sir 
 Alfred Lyall justly observes in his interesting review 
 of The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in 
 India, the so-called battle of Plassey was a rout rather 
 than a battle. As a military achievement it cannot be 
 compared with the defence of Arcot, or with the fight 
 at Kaveripdk, or with some other actions in which 
 Clive was engaged. At the same time its results 
 were far-reaching and of the greatest political import- 
 ance. Indeed, it is universally regarded by historians 
 as the starting-point of British dominion in India. 
 
 Had Plassey been lost, the establishment of British 
 rule in India would in all probability never have taken 
 place ; and although Plassey was followed in a very 
 few years by other contests far more severe, such as 
 Adams's fights at Gherid and at Andhanala, and Sir 
 Hector Munro's victory over the Moghul's and the 
 Nawdb Vazir's troops at Buxar, the political import- 
 ance of Plassey, which placed the ruler of the richest 
 provinces in India in subjection to the English 
 Company, can hardly be over-estimated. Nor, 
 although the victory was so easily won, was it less 
 
84 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 remarkable than Clive's other military achievements 
 for the strategy which he displayed or for the unfail- 
 ing nerve and coolness wfith which he encountered 
 the enormous odds against him. Clive had not 
 anticipated that the Nawdb would be able to array 
 against him so large a force. When day broke on 
 that June morning, and revealed to his astonished 
 gaze the 50,000 horse and foot and the large artillery 
 force, to which he had to oppose his 3200 infantry, 
 his eight light field pieces and no cavalry, it must 
 have needed an amount of nerve which is rarely 
 ipossessed even by the bravest men to make his 
 dispositions for the approaching battle. But on this, 
 as on other occasions, Clive's nerve never failed. 
 Indeed, the greater the danger, the more clear was 
 his judgment and the more keen his courage. 
 
 The position which Clive took up in the mango 
 grove, protected as it was by the trees and by the 
 mud bank surrounding it, which rendered the heavy 
 artillery of the enemy practically innocuous, and the 
 skill with which his few field pieces were directed, 
 were important elements in securing the victory. 
 Indeed, the most remarkable feature in the battle is 
 that while the artillery force of the enemy was 
 enormously superior in the weight of metal and in 
 the number of guns to that of Clive, the contest 
 was mainly an artillery contest, and was practically 
 decided by that arm. The death of the Nawdb's 
 only faithful general, Mir Mudin, who was mortally 
 
LORD CLIVE 85 
 
 wounded by a cannon shot, was, as we have said, the 
 crisis of the battle. It so disheartened the Nawdb 
 that from that moment he gave himself up to despair, 
 and became only too ready to listen to the insidious 
 advice of the leaders who had betrayed him, that he 
 should quit the field and leave it to them to continue 
 the battle. Important as Plassey was, and well as it 
 was fought by Clive and his small force, it is not a 
 battle that can be held to redound to the credit of 
 British arms. Looking to the enormous disparity of 
 numbers, and making every allowance for the superior 
 courage and training of the victorious force, it can 
 hardly be supposed that the result could have been 
 what it was, had it not been for the treachery of the 
 Nawdb's principal generals. 
 
 On the evening after the battle, Clive's force halted 
 at Daudpur, six miles beyond Plassey. There on the 
 next day he was joined by Mfr Jafar, the latter not 
 altogether at ease as to the reception he might meet 
 with after his somewhat ambiguous attitude both 
 before and during the engagement ; but Clive at once 
 reassured him, and saluted him as the Nawdb of 
 Bengal, Behar and Orissa, advising him to proceed at 
 once to Murshidabad, to secure the person of Surdj 
 ud Daulah and prevent the place being plundered. 
 
 Suraj ud Daulah had fled from the battlefield 
 some time before the issue was finally decided, 
 and had arrived the same night at Murshidabad. 
 On the following night Mfr Jafar reached that 
 
86 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 place. The whole of that day Surij ud Daulah had 
 passed in a state of the greatest perplexity as to the 
 course he should pursue, whether he should submit 
 to the English or should make a stand in the city. 
 Some of his principal officers advised the former, some 
 the latter, course. He had decided to resist, and had 
 ordered his troops to be massed for this purpose, when 
 he heard of the arrival of Mir Jafar. Then he re- 
 solved upon flight, and accompanied by his favourite 
 wife and a single, eunuch, he left his palace in dis- 
 guise, and entering a boat which had been engaged 
 for the purpose, reached Rdjmahal, ninety miles 
 distant, on the evening of the fourth day. There the 
 rowers were obliged to halt for a rest, and taking 
 refuge in a deserted garden, the Nawdb was seen by 
 a fakir whose ears he had caused to be cut ofF 
 thirteen months before, and was handed over to Mir 
 Jafar's brother, who resided at Rdjmahal. He was at 
 once captured, sent back to Murshidabad, and handed 
 over to Mir Jafar on the 2d July. He pleaded 
 earnestly for his life, offering to give up everything 
 else, and Mir Jafar, probably remembering the kindness 
 he had received from the grandfather of his prisoner, 
 was at first disposed to spare him, but afterwards 
 consulted with his higher officials, some of whom advo- 
 cated a policy of clemency, while others, including Mir 
 Jafar's son, Mfran, a truculent youth, not unlike 
 Surdj ud Daulah in disposition, urged that the only 
 security against a fresh revolution lay in the death of 
 
LORD CLIVE 87 
 
 the prisoner. The latter accordingly was made over 
 to Mfran, by whose orders he was brutally murdered 
 in the course of the night. 
 
 Meanwhile Clive with a portion of his force had on 
 the 29th June entered Murshidabad, and had formally 
 installed Mfr Jaikr as Nawdb. His entry into the 
 city had been somewhat delayed owing to the alleged 
 discovery of a plot to assassinate him, in which Miran 
 was said to have been the principal agent. This 
 statement, however, was afterwards discredited. On 
 the following day Clive, accompanied by Mfr Jafar, 
 repaired to the house of Jaggat Seth for the purpose 
 of obtaining the price of his victory. It has been 
 already stated that the payments to be made to the 
 Company, to the inhabitants of Calcutta, to the army 
 and navy, to Clive and to the members of the 
 Council in the event of Mir Jafar being placed upon 
 the throne, amounted to little short of two millions 
 and a half sterling, or two crores four hundred and 
 ninety thousand rupees. The wealth of the deposed 
 Nawdb had been greatly over-estimated. Mr Watts 
 had stated that it amounted to four millions. When 
 Clive went to the treasury, it was found that the sum 
 actually there did not exceed one million and a half. 
 The result was that Clive had to be satisfied with 
 receiving at once one-half of the stipulated sum, of 
 which two-thirds were to be paid in money and one- 
 third in gold and silver plate, jewels and goods, while 
 the other half was to be discharged in three annual 
 
88 BUILDERS 0,F GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 payments. Mfr Jafar subsequently made Clive a 
 personal present of ^160,000. After these arrange- 
 ments had been made, it became necessary to inform 
 Omichand of the trick which had been practised upon 
 him. This was done under Clive's instructions, and 
 in his presence, by his secretary, Mr Scrafton, who 
 said to Omichand, ' the red paper is a trick — you 
 are to have nothing.' According to Orme, 'these 
 words overpowered him like a blast of sulphur. He 
 sank back fainting, and would have fallen to the 
 ground had not one of his attendants caught him in 
 his arms. They carried him to his palankin, in which 
 they conveyed him to his house, where he remained 
 many hours in stupid melancholy, and began to show 
 symptoms of insanity. Some days afterwards he 
 visited Colonel Clive, who advised him to make a 
 pilgrimage to some pagoda, which he accordingly did 
 soon after to a famous one near Mdlda. He went, 
 and returned insane, his mind every day more and 
 more approaching to idiotism ; and contrary to the 
 usual manners of old age in Indostan, still more to the 
 former excellence of his understanding, he delighted in 
 being continually dressed in the richest garments and 
 ornamented with the most costly jewels. In this 
 state of imbecility he died about a year and a half 
 after the shock of his disappointment.' 
 
 This account is adopted by Mill ; but some doubt 
 is thrown upon the alleged loss of reason by Wilson, 
 who edited and commented upon Mill's History, 
 
LORD CLIVE 89 
 
 inasmuch as Clive, in a subsequent letter to the 
 Court of Directors, describes Omichand as * a person 
 capable of rendering you great services, and therefore 
 not wholly to be discarded.' ' 
 
 After the capture of Chandernagore, Law had joined 
 the Nawdb at Murshidabad with the French contin- 
 gent under his command ; but before Plassey was 
 fought, the Nawdb, intimidated by Clive's demand that 
 he should dismiss all Frenchmen from his service, 
 had sent Law away, bidding him not to go further 
 than Bhdgalpur, in case his services should be again 
 required. This was a fatal step ; for had Law and 
 his contingent been at Plassey, supporting M. St 
 Frais with his small body of French soldiers, who 
 remained faithful to the end, it is quite possible that 
 the result might have been difFerent. Clive, after 
 Plassey, sent Eyre Coote in pursuit of Law, but the 
 latter by forced marches made his escape into Oudh, 
 whither Coote's men refused to follow him. 
 
 ' See also Malcolm's Life of Clive, vol. i., p. 301. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPOIL CLIVe's CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE WITH THE MILITARY OFFICERS — 
 HIS LETTERS TO THE COMMITTEE AT CAL- 
 CUTTA DEATH OF WATSON STATE OF THE 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE — DIFFICULTIES OF MfR JAFAR 
 
 SLIGHT PUT UPON CLIVE BY COURT OF 
 
 DIRECTORS HIS SUBSEQUENT APPOINTMENT AS 
 
 GOVERNOR OF BENGAL THE ROTATION PLAN- 
 THREATENED INVASION OF BENGAL BY THE 
 ShAhzAdA — CLIVE's JACfR. 
 
 The distribution of the spoil was the next matter 
 which engaged Clive's attention. The first instal- 
 ment was sent to Calcutta in boats, with flags flying 
 and drums beating, and naturally caused great re- 
 joicing in the settlement. The compensation to 
 be given to the sufferers from the events of the 
 preceding year was settled without much difficulty. 
 Not so the distribution of the sums payable to the 
 army and navy. Admiral Watson had preferred 
 a claim to a special grant in addition to his share 
 of the sum allotted to the navy, in consideration 
 
 90 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 91 
 
 of the part he had taken in the various operations 
 which preceded Plassey. This claim was rejected, 
 although strongly supported by Clive, who offered 
 to give up a portion of his own share, and invited 
 the other members of the Calcutta Committee to 
 do the same, in order that Watson's claim might be 
 met. A claim preferred by the navy, to the effect 
 that the officers and sailors belonging to the squadron 
 who had accompanied the land force to Plassey 
 should be allowed to share in the prize money, was 
 also rejected by a council of war convened by 
 Clive, and on his overruling the votes of the council, 
 a remonstrance was addressed to him by the mal- 
 content military officers, which elicited the following 
 reply : — 
 
 ' Gentlemen, — I have received both your remon- 
 strance and protest. Had you consulted the dictates 
 of your own reason, those of justice, or the respect 
 due to your commanding officer, I am persuaded that 
 such a paper, so highly injurious to your own honour 
 as officers, would never have escaped you. 
 
 ' You say you were assembled as a council to give 
 your opinion about a matter of property. Pray, 
 gentlemen, how comes it that a promise of a sum 
 of money from the Nawdb, entirely negotiated by 
 me, can be deemed a matter of right and property ? 
 So very far from it, it is now in my power to return 
 to the Nawib the money already advanced, and leave 
 
92 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 it to his option whether he will perform his promise 
 or not. You have stormed no town and found the 
 money there ; neither did you find it in the plains 
 of Plassey after the defeat of the Nawdb. In short, 
 gentlemen, it pains me to remind you that what you 
 are to receive is entirely owing to the care I took 
 of your interests. Had I not interfered greatly in 
 it, you had been left to the Company's generosity, 
 who perhaps would have thought you sufficiently re- 
 warded in receiving a present of six months' pay ; in 
 return for which I have been treated with the great- 
 est disrespect and ingratitude, and, what is still worse, 
 you have flown in the face of my authority for over- 
 ruling an opinion which would have been highly 
 injurious to your own reputation, being attended 
 with injustice to the navy, and been of the worst 
 consequences to the cause of the nation and the 
 Company. I shall therefore send the money direct 
 to Calcutta, give directions to the agents of both 
 parties to have it shroffed ; and when the Nawdb 
 signifies his pleasure (on whom it solely depends) 
 that the money be paid you, you shall then receive 
 it, and not before. 
 
 'Your behaviour has been such that you cannot 
 expect I should interest myself any further in your 
 concerns. I therefore retract the promise I made 
 the other day of negotiating either the rest of the 
 Nawdb's promise, or the one-third which was to 
 be received in the same manner as the rest of the 
 
LORD CLIVE 93 
 
 public money at three yearly equal payments — I am, 
 gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 ' Robert Clive. 
 
 ' MuRSHiDABAD, ^t/i July 1757.' 
 
 The malcontents having expressed regret at their 
 conduct, Clive at once sent them the following 
 reply : — 
 
 ' Gentlemen, — I have ever been desirous of the 
 love and good opinion of my officers, and have often 
 pursued their interests in preference to my own. 
 What passed the other day is now forgotten, and I 
 shall always be glad of an opportunity of convinc- 
 ing you how much I am, gentlemen, your most 
 obedient humble servant, 
 
 ' Robert Clive. 
 
 ' MuRSHIDAEAD, 9M ^a^ I757'' 
 
 Clive's equanimity was also much disturbed by 
 the conduct of the Select Committee at Calcutta. 
 In a letter written three days after Plassey, he com- 
 ments thus upon the attitude of that body : — 
 
 ' I have received a letter from Mr Drake in answer 
 to my letter to the Committee which is very unusual 
 on such important occasions ; and I cannot help 
 thinking that had the expedition miscarried, you 
 would have laid the whole blame upon me.' 
 
 The next day, in answer to a letter written on the 
 very day on which Plassey was fought, he writes : — 
 
94 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 < I have received your letter on the 23d instant, the 
 contents of which are so indefinite and contradictory 
 that I can put no other construction upon it than 
 an intent to clear yourself at my expense had the 
 expedition miscarried. It puts me in mind of the 
 famous answer of the Delphic Oracle to Pyrrhus, 
 " Aio te ^acide Romanos vincere posse." ' 
 
 Clive remained at Murshidabad until the return •©f 
 Coote to Patna from his fruitless march after Law. 
 He then proceeded to Calcutta, where he arrived just 
 in time to attend the funeral of Watson, who died 
 on the 1 6th August after a few days' illness. From 
 a letter which he wrote on this occasion, it appears 
 that notwithstanding Watson's obstructive proceed- 
 ings during the earlier months of their acquaintance, 
 Clive fully recognised his worth and sincerely lamented 
 his death. He found many things which called for 
 immediate attention. The state of the Civil Service 
 was far from satisfactory. With two brilliant excep- 
 tions, Warren Hastings and Watts, there was then 
 no civil servant of great mark in Bengal. More 
 officers were needed for the army. The new 
 Nawdb was by no means a capable person, and 
 needed all the support that Clive could give him. 
 If he had consulted his own personal predilections, 
 Clive would have left India and retired upon the 
 large fortune which he had acquired. But the 
 situation in the Carnatic was extremely critical. 
 The representatives of the English Company at 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 95 
 
 Madras were again threatened with an attack by 
 the French. Lally, an ambitious and energetic, 
 though ill-judging man, full of martial ardour, had 
 been appointed Governor of Pondicherry, with 
 orders to attack the English. Bussy was still in 
 the Northern Sirkars, and Stringer Lawrence, who 
 commanded the troops at Madras, had, under the 
 weight of advancing years, lost some of the energy 
 which had distinguished him a few years before. 
 The Madras authorities were urgent in their 
 demands that Clive should return with the troops 
 which he had taken to Bengal. Clive, who was 
 most loyal in his attachment to his former masters, 
 and to the Presidency to which he belonged, had 
 quite made up his mind to return with as little 
 delay as possible to the Carnatic. But this decisions 
 he was compelled to abandon by the state of affairs 
 in Bengal. Mir Jafar was by no means an able/ 
 man, and whatever capacity at an earlier period hej 
 may have displayed as a soldier, he was no states-?' 
 man. His position, it must be admitted, was one 
 of extreme difficulty. The payments which he had 
 been compelled to make to the English after Plassey 
 had emptied his treasury, and the only means he had 
 of replenishing it was to exact contributions from 
 the wealthy natives around him. This led to re- 
 bellions on the part of some of his leading Hindu 
 subjects. At the same time he was threatened with 
 invasion by the Nawdb of Oudh, with whom Law 
 
96 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and his French contingent had taken refuge. Clive 
 felt bound to help him in his difficulties, but at the 
 same time to prevent him from oppressing his own 
 subjects. In this he succeeded. He effected a 
 reconciliation between Mir Jafar and his disaffected 
 subjects, and he availed himself of the opportunity 
 to secure the means of enforcing the claims of the 
 Company under the treaty, which still remained un- 
 satisfied, by obtaining an assignment of the revenue 
 of certain districts near Calcutta in satisfaction of 
 those claims. He also obtained for the Company a 
 lucrative monopoly as renters of the Salt Tax. The 
 threatened invasion from Oudh collapsed. About 
 this time Clive was created by the Emperor of 
 Delhi an Amir, or noble of the Empire, with the 
 rank of Mansubddr or Commander of six thousand 
 foot and four thousand horse, and the title of Zdbit- 
 ul-mulk, Nasir-ud-daulah, Sibat Jung Bahadur. Ever ' 
 after this Clive was known by the natives of India as 
 ' Sdbat Jung,' or the ' Daring in War.' 
 
 In the course of the same year two despatches were 
 received from the Court of Directors, one written 
 before, and the other written after, the news of the 
 recapture of Fort William had reached England. 
 In the first, orders were given for the appointment 
 of a Council consisting of five members, of which 
 Clive was to be the President. In the second, 
 which arrived a few months later, but which was 
 written before the news of Plassey had been re- 
 
LORD CLIVE 97 
 
 ceived, a Council of ten was nominated, and it 
 was laid down that the office of President should 
 be held by the four senior members in rotation for 
 three months. In this despatch Clive's name was 
 entirely omitted ; but the nominated members hacT 
 the sense to see the absurdity of the proposed 
 arrangement, and to feel that they could not carry 
 on the government without him. They accord- 
 ingly pressed him to undertake the presidency of 
 the Council pending further orders from home. 
 Clive, naturally much affronted by the slight 
 which had been put upon him by the Court ofL 
 Directors, hesitated at first to undertake the office ; 
 but the general feeling in favour of his being placed 
 at the head of the Government was so strong that 
 he yielded, and assumed the office of President. 
 Before the report of these proceedings reached 
 England, the Court of Directors, on hearing of 
 Plassey, anticipated the views of the Bengal 
 Council, and appointed Clive Governor of Bengal. 
 The absurdity of the rotation plan is sufficiently 
 manifest in these days ; but in the time of Clive, 
 when the English in India were only just begin- 
 ning to emerge from the position of traders to 
 that of territorial rulers, it was probably regarded 
 from a very different point of view. The omission 
 of Clive's name from the list of members of the new 
 Council has been accounted for in different ways. 
 One theory is that when the appointments were 
 
 G 
 
98 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 made, it was supposed that before they could reach 
 India Clive would have returned to Madras. 
 Another, and perhaps the more probable one, was that 
 his exclusion was due to jealousy at the East India 
 House of his commanding powers, such as was felt 
 some years later, when, before his last return to 
 Bengal, considerable opposition was offered by some 
 of the Directors to his reappointment to the 
 Government. On this occasion, however, the 
 opposition, from whatever cause it may have 
 arisen, was completely silenced by the news of 
 the victory of Plassey. 
 
 In the meantime other circumstances arose 
 which delayed Clive's return to Madras. One 
 was a threatened invasion of Behdr, the North- 
 western Province of Bengal, by the eldest son 
 of the Emperor of Delhi, commonly known as the 
 Shdhzdda, who, having quarrelled with his father 
 and escaped from Delhi, had gathered round him 
 a large but undisciplined force, and laid siege to 
 Patna. He had hopes of aid from the Nawdb of 
 Oudh, whose state bordered upon Behar, but these 
 hopes were disappointed. Still, the situation was 
 not otherwise than alarming, and the Nawib in his 
 difficulty implored Clive to aid in extricating him 
 from this new danger. Clive, feeling bound to 
 support the Prince whom he had placed upon the 
 throne, responded to the appeal, and although it 
 compelled him almost to denude Calcutta of troops, 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 99 
 
 he despatched a detachment to Patna, following 
 himself in a few days with all his available 
 force. 
 
 Rdm Narayan, the Governor of Behdr, who had 
 been a loyal supporter of Surdj ud Daulah, after his 
 death had submitted to Mir Jafar. Subsequently, 
 owing to the oppression of the latter, he had rebelled 
 against him, but under the influence of Clive had 
 resumed his allegiance, which had somewhat wavered 
 when the Shdhzdda appeared before Patna. After 
 a visit to the Shdhzdda's camp, however, he had 
 determined to adhere to the Nawib, and had made 
 a resolute defence of Patna. This was the position 
 of affairs when the detachment sent by Clive 
 appeared before that place. The news of its arrival, 
 and the intelligence that Clive was coming, produced 
 such an effect that the Shdhzdda's army at once 
 retired and dispersed. The Shdhzdda appealing to 
 Clive for aid, and afterwards for money, to enable him 
 to effect his retreat, Clive sent him a present of 
 eight thousand rupees ; but stated that he was 
 unable to help him in his operations against the_ 
 Nawab, having received repeated orders from the 
 Emperor not only to oppose him, but to lay hold of 
 his person. Clive concluded with these significant 
 words : ' I have only to recommend your Highness 
 to the Almighty's protection. I wish to God it were 
 in my power to protect you, but it is not. I am 
 now on my march to the Karamnassa, and earnestly 
 
100 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 recommend it to you to withdraw before I arrive 
 there.' 
 
 Clive's intervention on these occasions was for 
 the moment greatly appreciated by Mir Jafar, who 
 manifested his gratitude by conferring upon Clive as 
 a Jagir the quit - rent, variously computed from 
 j^27,ooo to ^30,000 a year, which was payable by 
 the East India Company on lands which had been 
 ceded to them in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. 
 This grant was made ostensibly for the support of 
 the title which had been conferred upon Clive by 
 the Emperor of Delhi. It was really given as a 
 return for the great services which Clive had ren- 
 dered to the Nawdb by suppressing the rebellion of 
 his nobles and by protecting him from the invasion 
 of the Shihzdda. It was much criticised in after 
 years, and not altogether without reason. It is 
 perfectly true, as Macaulay remarks, making what 
 seems to be a somewhat questionable distinction 
 between this grant and the presents which Clive 
 accepted from the Nawib after Plassey, that it 
 was a 'present which, from its very nature, could 
 be no secret. In fact, the Company itself was his 
 tenant, and by its acquiescence signified its appro- 
 bation of Mir Jafar's grant.' Still, it was clearly open 
 to the objection in principle that a general ought not 
 to accept presents from a foreign ruler without the 
 express permission of his own Government. More- 
 over, the fact that the grant made the Government 
 
LORD CLIVE loi 
 
 the tenants of their subordinate, however much its 
 nature rendered it impossible of concealment, was 
 surely on general grounds of public policy an 
 objectionable feature in the transaction. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE NORTHERN SIRkArs COLONEL FORDE APPOINTED 
 
 TO COMMAND EXPEDITION AGAINST MASULIPA- 
 
 TAM THE ASSAULT SUCCESSFUL WAR WITH THE 
 
 DUTCH CLIVE's CHARACTERISTIC LETTER 
 
 CLIVe's FAILURE TO SECURE THE APPOINTMENT 
 OF FORDE TO COMMAND THE BENGAL ARMY 
 REMARKS ON DECORATIONS. 
 
 Although Clive felt that it would not be right for 
 him to leave Bengal in the circumstances which then 
 existed, he was by no means indifferent to the situa- 
 tion of his old Presidency. The course which he 
 took was very similar to that which, on his advice, 
 had been adopted seven years before to relieve the 
 garrison of Trichinopoly, when a small force was 
 sent to create a diversion by taking Arcot. In the 
 present instance Clive resolved to create a diversion 
 by despatching a force to the Northern Sirkars, which 
 were then in the hands of the French. Just at that 
 time Bussy had been recalled by Lally from the 
 Dekhan. One of the leading chiefs in the Northern 
 Sirkirs, Anandurdz Gajapati, then the head of the 
 family now represented by the RAjds of Vizianagram, 
 had rebelled against the French, and had made over- 
 
LORD CLIVE 103 
 
 tures both to the authorities at Madras and to Clive 
 to aid him in wresting the Northern Sirkdrs from the 
 French. The districts so named included the present 
 districts of Ganjam Vizagaputam, Godivari, Krishna 
 and Guntur. They possessed an area of about seventeen 
 thousand geographical miles, and contained important 
 manufactures and considerable agricultural wealth. 
 According to Orme, they ' rendered the French 
 masters of the greatest dominion both in extent 
 and value that had ever been possessed in Hindustan 
 by Europeans, not excepting the Portuguese at the 
 height of their prosperity.' The result of Clive's 
 policy, which at the time was much opposed by his 
 colleagues in the Bengal Council, was not only to 
 create a diversion which rendered material help to 
 the English in resisting French aggression in the 
 Carnatic, but eventually to place the whole of this 
 important territory under English rule. The officer 
 whom Clive selected for the duty was Colonel Francis 
 Forde, an officer belonging to the 39th Foot, senior 
 to Colonel Eyre Coote, who belonged to the same 
 regiment. Clive had formed a very high opinion of 
 Forde, and appears to have considered him an abler 
 man than Coote. By some, Clive's preference for 
 Forde was attributed to prejudice caused by the 
 dispute with Watson when Fort William was re- 
 captured, and when Coote, acting under Watson's 
 orders, refused to deliver the fort up to Clive. Be 
 this as it may, there can be no doubt that Forde 
 
104 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 was a very able officer, and performed the duty which 
 was now entrusted to him with brilliant success. 
 With a force of 500 Europeans, 2000 Sepoys, many 
 of them Rijputs, whom Clive had begun to enlist, 
 and twelve guns, Forde landed at Vizagapatam on the 
 14th October 1758, and after defeating the French 
 under the Marquis de Conflans (who had succeeded 
 Bussy in the Dekhan), in a battle fought at Konddr, 
 and taking Rajahmundry and all the baggage of the 
 French army, proceeded to lay siege to Masulipatam. 
 Masulipatam was at that time the Strongest position 
 on the eastern coast of India. Forde, in his very 
 brief report upon its capture, described it as 'by far 
 the strongest situation in India.' ' The fort stood 
 about a mile and a half from the sea shore, on 
 the edge of an inlet of the sea upwards of five 
 hundred yards in breadth, and surrounded on three 
 sides by a morass of considerable extent, varying in 
 depth from three to eighteen feet. The works were 
 strong, and the garrison in numerical strength ex- 
 ceeded the besieging force. The battle of Kondiir 
 had been fought, not without a considerable loss to 
 Forde's force in killed and wounded, and it was 
 essential that Masulipatam should be taken before 
 the French were reinforced either from Pondicherry 
 or by the troops of Salabatjung, the Subahdar of the 
 Dekhan, who was still in alliance with the French. 
 
 ' See Colonel Wilson's History of tie Madras Army, vol. i., p. 129. 
 
LORD CLIVE 105 
 
 In prosecuting the siege, Forde was greatly hindered 
 by want of money. Anandurdz Gajapati, who had 
 promised to supply money as well as men, failed for 
 several weeks to provide any of the former, and it was 
 not until the 7th March, after a delay of fifty days, 
 that Forde was in a position to invest the fort. It 
 took him from that day to the 25th to erect his 
 batteries. During all this time his men were with- 
 out pay, and on the 19th the English troops mutinied 
 and threatened to march away. It was only upon 
 Forde assuring them that the money was on its way 
 from Bengal that they were persuaded to return to 
 their duties. Meanwhile, Saldbat Jung had arrived 
 at Bezwada, forty-four miles from Masulipatam, with 
 a force of 40,000 men, and a French force under 
 M. du Rocher was moving towards Rajamundry and 
 threatening Vizagapatam. On the 5th April there 
 fell heavy rain, which added greatly to the difficulty 
 of the morass, and on the same day the senior artillery 
 officer reported that the ammunition in store was only 
 sufficient for two days' service of the batteries. Forde's 
 force had been reduced, partly by sickness, partly by 
 his losses at Kondiir, to about 400 Europeans andt 
 1400 Sepoys. In these circumstances he decided that 
 his only chance was to make an immediate assault. 
 This was delivered on the night of the 7th April, 
 and after a keen struggle which lasted some hours, 
 Conflans, with his garrison, consisting of 500 
 Europeans, 2537 Sepoys and 120 guns, surrendered 
 
io6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 at discretion. The loss to Forde's force was 84 
 killed and wounded, among whom two of the killed 
 were British officers. The victory gained for the 
 English the possession of the five districts before 
 mentioned, the formal cession of which seven years 
 later was made by the Nizdm. It also involved the 
 transfer of the paramount influence at the Court of 
 Hyderabad from the French to the English. It 
 effectually served Clive's purpose of detaining in 
 the Dekhan a large body of French troops who 
 would otherwise have been available for the siege 
 of Madras. Colonel Malleson, in his Fifteen Decisive 
 Battles of India, treating the fight at Kondiir and the 
 siege of Masulipatam as two parts of one operation, 
 remarks that ' few battles have produced more brilliant 
 results. If Kaveripdk was the turning-point in the 
 contest between the French and English for the 
 possession of Southern India south of the Krishna, 
 the capture of Masulipatam most assuredly secured 
 for them the authority they now command and the 
 influence they now exercise in the provinces lying 
 between that river and the Vindhayan range.' 
 
 A few months later Forde was employed by Clive 
 upon another important duty, in which he again 
 justified the high opinion which Clive had formed 
 of him. Mir Jafar, very soon after he was seated on 
 the Masnad, had begun to resent the great influence 
 of Clive, and to look about for some means of 
 weakening that influence, and placing himself in a 
 
LORD CLIVE 107 
 
 position of greater independence. With this object, 
 in November 1758 he had entered into secret negotia- 
 tions with the Dutch, who had suffered in their trade 
 from the ascendency of the English in Bengal, and 
 although Great Britain and Holland were at that 
 time at peace, the representatives of the Dutch at 
 Batavia had collected ships and troops for a movement 
 into the Hughli. After Clive's march upon Patna, 
 Mir Jafar seems to have felt some shame at the 
 treachery of which he had been guilty, and in July 
 1759 he gave notice to Warren Hastings, then the 
 Resident at Murshidabad, that the Dutch were in 
 league with the Nawdb of Oudh, and were fitting 
 out an expedition which was destined for Chinsurah, 
 a Dutch settlement on the Hughli, near the town 
 of that name. In October, seven Dutch ships, filled 
 with Dutch and Malay troops, anchored at the mouth 
 of the Hughli. It speedily became manifest that the 
 object with which this expedition had been organised, 
 was hostile to the English, and that Mfr Jafar, having 
 shaken off his short-lived gratitude to Clive, was in 
 league with the Dutch. Clive was equal to the 
 occasion. He strengthened the batteries which com- 
 manded the most important passages in the river near 
 the town. He mounted heavy guns on the fort. 
 He despatched special messengers to call in all avail- 
 able men from the outposts. Of four English vessels 
 in the river, he despatched the smallest to summon 
 Admiral Cornish, then cruising off the Arakan coast, 
 
io8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 to come to his aid, and ordered the other three to 
 assist in the defence of the town. He called out 
 300 militia, five-sixths of whom were Europeans ; 
 he formed half a troop of horse, and enlisted a 
 small body of infantry volunteers. At this critical 
 juncture Forde, accompanied by Captain Knox, 
 who had taken a distinguished part in the siege of 
 Masulipatam, returned to Calcutta. Clive at once 
 placed Forde in command of the whole available 
 force, assigning to Knox the charge of certain 
 batteries below Fort William. In the second week 
 of November, the Dutch sent a memorandum to Fort 
 William stating their grievances and threatening 
 reprisals, to which Clive replied that all that had 
 taken place was done by direction of the Nawib, and 
 with the authority of the Emperor, and referred them 
 to the Nawdb. The tenor of Clive's reply appears to 
 have enraged the Dutch, who at once attacked and 
 captured some small English ships lying near the 
 mouth of the river, tore down the English colours, 
 and transferred the guns and stores to their own ships. 
 They then landed troops at Falta and Rdipur, and 
 burnt the houses and effects of the English agents. 
 Clive had been somewhat perplexed as to what course 
 he should take in case the Dutch should advance up 
 the river, the two nations being at peace in Europe ; 
 but these outrages solved his doubts. Forde, by his 
 orders, occupied the Dutch factory at Bardnagar, on 
 the left bank of the river, and then crossing over 
 
LORD CLIVE 109 
 
 to Serampur, on the right bank, marched thence to 
 Chandernagore, in order to intercept the Dutch troops 
 in^case they should attempt to reach Chinsurah by- 
 land. Captain Wilson, in command of the three East 
 Indiamen, all of which carried guns, was directed to 
 attack the Dutch ships if they persisted in passing up 
 the river. Clive's orders were ' to demand restitu- 
 tion of our ships, subjects and property, or to sink, 
 burn and destroy the Dutch ships on their refusal.' 
 Wilson made the demand, and was refused. He then 
 with his three ships, mounting 90 guns, attacked the 
 seven Dutch ships, which mounted 212 guns, and 
 after a sharp action captured six of them. The 
 seventh escaped down the river, but was captured at 
 the mouth of the Hughli by two English ships. 
 Before this action was fought, the Dutch ships had 
 landed their soldiers. Forde, meanwhile, had en- 
 countered and defeated the garrison of Chinsurah, 
 which had come out to the ruins of Chandernagore. 
 He then awaited the arrival of the Dutch troops, 
 which had landed from their ships. These last he 
 met on the plain of Biderra, a small village near 
 Chinsurah, and beat them in half an hour, driving 
 them up to the walls of Chinsurah and capturing all 
 their guns. In connection with this last engagement, 
 a characteristic story is told of Clive. Forde, on 
 hearing that the Dutch were advancing, sent by 
 express a note to Clive and asked for an order of 
 Council authorising him to attack them. Clive was 
 
no BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 playing at whist when the note arrived, and without 
 rising from the table, wrote on the back of the note : 
 ' Dear Forde, — Fight them immediately. I will send 
 you the order of Council to-morrow.' 
 
 The result of these victories was that the Dutch 
 sued for peace, and three days afterwards were obliged 
 to apply to Clive for protection against a body of 
 6000 cavalry which the Nawib's son, Miran, had 
 brought down to Chinsurah with the intention of 
 using against the English ; but which, on learning 
 the turn affairs had taken, he was about to employ 
 in exterminating the Dutch. Clive showed great 
 prudence and moderation, and also true patriotism, in 
 the whole of this affair. After having defeated the 
 Dutch, he treated them with generous consideration, 
 and his mediation with the Nawdb averted the attack 
 which the young Prince was about to make upon 
 them. He secured the interests of his own country 
 by exacting from the Dutch an engagement never 
 to maintain more than 125 European soldiers in 
 Bengal, and to pay all the costs and damages caused 
 by the expedition. During the whole of this time 
 j^i8o,ooo of his private fortune was in the hands of 
 the Dutch East India Company. An investigation 
 into the affair was subsequently held in Europe by 
 commissioners deputed by the two nations, who 
 acquitted Clive of all blame, and both the British 
 Government and the Directors of the East India Com- 
 pany in London expressed high approval of his action. 
 
LORD CLIVE III 
 
 The time of Clive's return to England was now 
 approaching. Before his departure he endeavoured 
 to secure the appointment of Forde to command 
 the army in Bengal, but this the Court of Directors 
 for some unknown reason declined to sanction. Ten 
 years later, Forde, on Clive's recommendation, was 
 sent back to India as one of three supervisors who 
 were appointed to inquire into every department of 
 Indian administration. The frigate in which they 
 sailed touched at the Cape on the 27 th September 
 1769, and was never heard of again. It has been 
 suggested that Clive's pertinacity in endeavouring 
 to promote the interests of Forde was one of the 
 chief causes of the estrangement which, after Clive's 
 return to England, arose between him and Lawrence 
 Sullivan, a leading member of the Court of Directors, 
 with whom he was on friendly terms both before and 
 for some little while after his return home. Coote 
 had - visited England before Clive's return, and 
 Sullivan, it was said, was much impressed by him, 
 and owing to his preference for Coote induced his 
 brother Directors to ignore the claims of Forde. 
 They were both very able soldiers, but there can be 
 no doubt that, after Forde's brilliant conduct of the 
 siege of Masulipatam and the results of that siege, 
 it was not creditable to his countrymen that his 
 services should have been left, as they were, entirely 
 unrecognised. In these days of decorations, bestowed 
 with a lavish hand, and too often given for services 
 
112 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of a very mediocre quality, an attentive student of 
 Indian history is amazed to learn that Forde was 
 allowed to go to his grave without having received 
 a decoration or honours of any description. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 EVENTS IN MADRAS CLIVE's UNFAVOURABLE OPINION 
 
 OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS HIS LETTER TO 
 
 THE ELDER PITT ADVOCATING TRANSFER OF 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO THE CROW^N 
 
 HIS LETTER TO THE COURT HE RETURNS TO 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 During all this time Clive had not failed to 
 bestow very close attention upon the affairs of 
 Madras. Lally, as we have said, had landed at 
 Pondicherry in 1758, and had shortly afterwards 
 sent a force against Fort St David, which after a 
 very weak defence capitulated, the garrison sur- 
 rendering as prisoners of war. Clive was highly 
 indignant at this surrender, and in writing to his 
 friend Stringer Lawrence, expressed in no measured 
 terms his contempt for the poltroonery of the garrison. 
 Lally afterwards laid siege to Madras, but receiv- 
 ing no support from the French Admiral, and having 
 no money to pay his troops, was obliged to raise 
 the siege in about two months. In the following 
 year, 1760, just before Clive left India, Coote, who 
 
 H 
 
114 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 had been sent to Madras, defeated the French at Wan- 
 diwash, and a year later Pondicherry surrendered. 
 
 Before embarking for England, Clive was again 
 called upon to repel an invasion of Behdr by the 
 Shihzdda. This was done under his orders by Major 
 Calliaud, who had been sent up from Madras with 
 reinforcements. After bidding farewell to the 
 Nawdb at Murshidabad, Clive returned to Calcutta 
 on the 14th January 1760, and on the 25th of the 
 following month he embarked for England, leaving 
 the Government in the hands of Mr Holwell, 
 pending the arrival from Madras of Mr Vansittart, 
 who had been appointed to succeed him. 
 
 Clive had for some time entertained a very 
 unfavourable opinion of the administrative capacity 
 of the Court of Directors, and in a letter to the 
 elder Pitt, dated the 7th January 1759, he had 
 suggested, though in somewhat guarded language, 
 the expediency of transferring to the Crown the 
 supreme control of the administration of Indian 
 affairs, thus anticipating by nearly a century the 
 measure which, after the Mutiny of 1857, was 
 carried out by the Government of Lord Derby. 
 
 The following is the text of the letter : — 
 
 ' To the Rt. Honble. William Pitt, one of His 
 
 Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State. 
 'Sir, — Suffer an admirer of yours at this distance 
 to congratulate himself on the glory and advantage 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 "5 
 
 which are likely to accrue to the nation by your 
 being at its head, and at the same time to return 
 his most grateful thanks for the distinguished 
 manner you have been pleased to speak of his 
 successes in these parts, far indeed beyond his 
 deservings. 
 
 'The close attention you bestow on the affairs 
 of the British nation in general has induced me 
 to trouble you with a few particulars relative to 
 India, and to lay before you an exact account of 
 the revenues of this country, the genuineness you 
 may depend upon, as it has been faithfully ex- 
 tracted from the Minister's books. 
 
 'The great revolution that has been effected 
 here by the success of the English arms, and the 
 vast advantages gained to the Company by a treaty 
 concluded in consequence thereof, have, I observe, 
 in some measure engaged the public attention ; but 
 much more may yet in time be done if the 
 Company will yet exert themselves in the manner 
 the importance of their present possessions and 
 fiiture prospects deserves, I have represented to 
 them in the strongest terms the expediency of 
 sending out and keeping up constantly such a 
 force as will enable them to embrace the first 
 opportunity of further aggrandising themselves ; 
 and I dare pronounce, from a thorough knowledge 
 of this country government, and of the genius of 
 the people, acquired by two years' application and 
 
ii6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 experience, that such an opportunity will soon 
 oiFer. The reigning Subah whom the victory at 
 Plassey invested with the sovereignty of these 
 Provinces still, it is true, retains his attachment 
 to us, and probably, while he has no other sup- 
 port, will continue to do so ; but Mussulmans are 
 so little influenced by gratitude that, should he 
 ever think it his interest to break with us, the 
 obligations he owes us would prove no restraint : 
 and this is very evident from his having lately 
 removed his Prime Minister and cut ofF two or 
 three principal officers, all attached to our interest, 
 and who had a share in his elevation. Moreover, 
 he is advanced in years, and his son is so cruel 
 and worthless a young fellow, and so apparently 
 an enemy to the English, that it will be almost 
 unsafe trusting him with the succession. So small 
 a body as 2000 Europeans will secure us from 
 any apprehensions from either the one or the 
 other ; and in case of their daring to be trouble- 
 some, enable the Company to take the sovereignty 
 upon themselves. 
 
 'There will be the less difficulty in bringing 
 about such an event, as the natives themselves 
 have no attachment whatever to particular princes ; 
 and as under the present Government they have 
 no security for their lives or properties, they would 
 rejoice in so happy an exchange as that of a mild 
 for a despotic government ; and there is little 
 
LORD CLIVE 117 
 
 room to doubt our easily obtaining the Mogul's 
 sunnud (or grant) in confirmation thereof, provided 
 we agreed to pay him the stipulated allotment out 
 of the revenues, viz., fifty lakhs annually. / 
 
 'This has of late years been very ill-paid, owing 
 to the distractions in the heart of the Moghul 
 Empire, which have disabled that court from 
 attending to their concerns in the distant pro- 
 vinces ; and the Vazir has actually wrote to me, 
 desiring I would engage the Nawdb to make the 
 payments agreeable to the former usage ; nay, 
 further, application has been made to me from 
 the Court of Delhi to take charge of collecting 
 this payment, the person entrusted with which is 
 styled the King's Diwin, and is the next person 
 both in dignity and power to the Subah. But 
 this high office I have been obliged to decline for 
 the present, as I am unwilling to occasion any 
 jealousy on the part of the Subah ; especially as I 
 see no likelihood of the Company's providing us with 
 a sufficient force to support properly so considerable 
 an employ, and which would open a way to secure 
 the Subahship for ourselves. That this would be 
 agreeable to the Moghul can hardly be questioned, 
 as it would be so much to his interest to have 
 these countries under the dominion of a nation 
 famed for their good faith, rather than in the 
 hands of people who, a long experience has con- 
 vinced him, never will pay him his proportion of 
 
ii8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the revenues unless awed into it by the fear 
 of the Imperial army marching to force them 
 thereto. 
 
 'But so large a sovereignty may possibly be an 
 object too extensive for a mercantile company ; and 
 it is to be feared they are not of themselves able, 
 without the nation's assistance, to maintain so wide 
 a dominion. I have therefore presumed, sir, to 
 represent this matter to you, and submit it to 
 your consideration, whether the execution of a 
 design that may hereafter be still carried to 
 greater lengths, be worthy of the Government's 
 taking it into hand. I flatter myself I have made 
 it pretty clear to you that there will be little or 
 no diflSculty in obtaining the absolute possession of 
 these rich kingdoms ; and that with the Moghul's 
 own consent, on condition of paying him less than 
 a fifth of the revenues thereof. Now I leave you 
 to judge whether an income yearly of upwards of 
 two millions sterling, with the possession of three 
 provinces abounding in the most valuable produc- 
 tions of nature and of art, be an object deserving 
 the public attention ; and whether it be worth the 
 nation's while to take the proper measures to 
 secure such an acquisition ; an acquisition which, 
 under the management of so able and disinterested 
 a Minister, would prove a source of immense 
 wealth to the kingdom, and might in time be 
 appropriated in part as a fund towards diminishing 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 119 
 
 the heavy load of debt under which we at present 
 labour. Add to these advantages the influence we 
 shall thereby acquire over the several European 
 nations engaged in the commerce here, which 
 these could no longer carry on but through our 
 indulgence, and under such limitations as we 
 should think fit to prescribe. It is well worthy 
 consideration that this project may be brought 
 about without draining the mother country, as 
 has been too much the case with our possessions 
 in America. A small force from home will be 
 sufficient, as we always make sure of any number 
 we please of black troops, who, being both much 
 better paid and treated by us than by the country 
 powers, will very readily enter into our service. 
 Mr Walsh, who will have the honour of deliver- 
 ing to you this, having been my Secretary during 
 the late fortunate expedition, is a thorough master 
 of the subject, and will be able to explain to you 
 the whole design, and the facility with which it 
 may be executed, much more to your satisfaction 
 and with greater perspicuity than can possibly be 
 done in a letter. I shall therefore only further 
 remark that I have communicated it to no other 
 person but yourself; nor should I have troubled 
 you, sir, but from a conviction that you will give 
 a favourable reception to any proposal intended 
 for the public good. 
 
 ' The greatest part of the troops belonging to 
 
120 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 this establishment are now employed in an expedi- 
 tion against the French in the Dekhan ; and by 
 the accounts lately received from thence, I have 
 great hopes we shall succeed in extirpating them 
 from the Province of Golconda, where they have 
 reigned lords paramount so long, and from whence 
 they have drawn their principal resources during 
 the troubles upon the coast. 
 
 ' Notwithstanding the extraordinary effort made 
 by the French in sending M. Lally with a con- 
 siderable force the last year, I am confident before 
 the end of this they will be near their last gasp 
 in the Carnatic, unless some very unforeseen event 
 interfere in their favour. The superiority of our 
 squadron, and the plenty of money and supplies of 
 all kinds which our friends on the coast will be 
 furnished with from this province, while the 
 enemy are in total want of everything, without 
 any visible means of redress, cannot fail of wholly 
 effecting their ruin in that, as well as in every 
 other part of India. 
 
 ' May the zeal and the vigorous measures pro- 
 jected for the service of the nation which have 
 so eminently distinguished your Ministry be 
 crowned with all the success they deserve, is 
 the most fervent wish of him who is, with the 
 greatest respect, sir, your most devoted humble 
 servant, Rob. Clive. 
 
 ' Calcutta, 7M January 1759.' 
 
LORD CLIVE 121 
 
 Clive's last act before resigning the government 
 was to draft a letter to the Court of Directors, in 
 which he roundly rated them for 'the unprovoked 
 and general asperity ' of a dispatch which had been 
 received from them. This letter, which was signed 
 by Clive and a majority of his colleagues, was 
 couched in language seldom used by subordinate 
 officials, however high in rank, when addressing their 
 official superiors. It characterised the diction of 
 the Court's dispatch as ' most unworthy of yourselves 
 and us, in whatever relation considered, either as 
 masters to servants or as gentlemen to gentlemen.' 
 It alleged that ' groundless informations ' proceeding 
 from persons who had obviously their own interests 
 to serve, had received from the Court ' countenance 
 and encouragement ' to the detriment of the public 
 service. 
 
 The terms of this letter are so remarkable that 
 it seems desirable to append in full the obnoxious 
 paragraph : — 
 
 ' Having fully spoken to every branch of your 
 aiFairs at this Presidency, under their established heads, 
 we cannot, consistent with the real anxiety we feel 
 for the future welfare of that respectable body from 
 whom you and we are in trust, close this address 
 without expostulating with freedom on the unpro- 
 voked and general asperity of your letter per Prince 
 Henry packet. Our sentiments on this head will. 
 
122 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 we doubt not, acquire additional weight from the 
 consideration of their being subscribed by a majority 
 of your Council, who are at this very period quitting 
 your service, and consequently independent and dis- 
 interested. Permit us to say that the diction of your 
 letter is most unworthy yourselves and us, in whatever 
 relation considered, either as masters to servants or 
 gentlemen to gentlemen. Mere inadvertences, and 
 casual neglects arising from an unavoidable and most 
 complicated confusion in the state of your affairs, 
 have been treated in such language and sentiments 
 as nothing but the most glaring and premeditated 
 faults could warrant. Groundless informations have 
 without further scrutiny borne with you the stamp 
 of truth, though proceeding from those who had 
 therein obviously their own purpose to serve, no 
 matter at whose expense. These have received 
 from you such countenance and encouragement 
 as must most assuredly tend to cool the warmest 
 zeal of your servants here and everywhere else ; as 
 they will appear to have been only the source of 
 general reflections, thrown out at random against 
 your faithful servants of this Presidency, in various 
 parts of your letter now before us — faithful to little 
 purpose if the breath of scandal, joined to private 
 pique or private or personal attachments, have power 
 to blow away in one hour the merits of many years' 
 services, and deprive them of that rank and those 
 rising benefits which are justly a spur to their integ- 
 
LORD CLIVE 123 
 
 rity and application. The little attention shown 
 to these considerations in the indiscriminate favours 
 heaped on some individuals, and undeserved censures 
 on others, will, we apprehend, lessen that spirit of zeal 
 so very essential to the well-being of your affairs, 
 and consequently in the end, if continued, prove 
 the destruction of them. Private views may, it is 
 much to be feared, take the lead here from examples 
 at home ; and no gentleman hold your service longer, 
 nor exert themselves further in it, than their own 
 exigencies require. This being the real present state 
 of your service, it becomes strictly our duty to re- 
 present it in the strongest light, or we should with 
 little truth and less propriety subscribe ourselves, 
 may it please your honours, your most faithful 
 servants, 
 
 ' Robert Clive. 
 
 'j. z. holwell. 
 
 ' Wm. B. Sumner. 
 
 ' W. M'GUIRE.' 
 
 The language of the letter was not unnaturally 
 resented by the Court, who promptly dismissed from 
 their service all the members of the Council still 
 in India who had signed it, including Mr Holwell, 
 who had temporarily succeeded to the office of 
 Governor. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CLIVe's arrival in ENGLA^fD HIS CORDIAL RE- 
 CEPTION HOSTILITY OF SULLIVAN CLIVE 
 
 ATTACHES HIMSELF TO GEORGE GRENVILLE — 
 
 THREAT TO DEPRIVE HIM OF HIS JAGIR THE 
 
 DEPOSITION OF MIR JAFAR SUCCESSION OF KASIM 
 
 ALI KhAn RAPACITY OF THE COUNCIL WAR 
 
 WITH kAsIM ALI MIR JAFAR REPLACED ON 
 
 THE THRONE INVASION OF BENGAL BY NAwAb 
 
 OF OUDH BATTLE OF BUxAr DISOR- 
 GANISED STATE OF BENGAL MACAULAy's 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF IT REMARKS OF THE COURT 
 
 OF DIRECTORS SIR JOHN MALCOLm's OPINION 
 
 CLIVE URGED TO RESUME GOVERNMENT OF 
 
 BENGAL. 
 
 Clive reached England in the autumn of 1760. 
 The exact date of his arrival does not appear to be 
 known ; but it seems to have been very shortly 
 after the accession of George III. The reception 
 which he met with was even more enthusiastic than 
 that which had greeted him on his return from 
 India a few years before. The victor of Plassey 
 124 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 125 
 
 was even more welcome than the hero of Arcot. 
 He was received with distinction by the young 
 King and his Ministers, and also by the Court of 
 Directors of the East India Company, notwithstand- 
 ing the letter which had given so much oiFence. 
 The Directors during his absence had placed a 
 statue of him in the East India House, and had 
 struck a medal in his honour. The estimation in 
 which he was held by the authorities was fully shared 
 by the country. His successes as a soldier had been 
 unchequered by defeat. He was the first of the 
 soldier-statesmen of whom India has produced so 
 many. He had proved that' he was as wise in 
 council as he was brave and able in the field. His 
 moderation in the hour of victory, as shown by 
 his treatment of the Dutch, had made a great 
 impression upon thoughtful men, not led away by 
 the glamour of military achievements. The only 
 real blots upon his fame, arising from his conduct 
 towards Omichand and from his acceptance of an 
 enormous fortune from the Nawdb whom he had 
 placed upon the throne of Bengal, had not, it would 
 seem, attracted the attention which they did a few 
 years later, when they furnished the ground for 
 attacks which embittered his latter years, and drove 
 him in the end to a self-inflicted death. Not only 
 had his success, both as a soldier and an administrator, 
 been conspicuous, but it had been achieved at a 
 time when, with the exception of Wolfe, England 
 
126 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 had possessed no general since Marlborough whose 
 capacity could be compared with that of Clive. If 
 the Englishmen of that time could have known 
 what was about to happen a few years later, they 
 would have seen that while by the genius of Clive 
 we were acquiring a great Empire in the East, 
 we were, owing to the incompetency and obstinacy 
 of the King's Ministers, losing our great Colonial 
 Empire in the West. 
 
 Notwithstanding the very gratifying reception 
 which was given to Clive on his arrival, he was in 
 some respects doomed to disappointment. He had 
 fully expected that an English peerage would be 
 conferred upon him ; but two years elapsed before 
 he was raised to the peerage, and then it was only 
 an Irish peerage that was given to him ; and it 
 was not until 1764 that he was admitted to the 
 Order of the Bath. These delays must be in part 
 attributed to his having been attacked shortly 
 after his return by a dangerous illness, which for 
 more than a year entirely incapacitated him from 
 business ; but they were also partly owing to 
 personal jealousy of his fame on the part of some 
 of those connected with Indian affairs. Reference 
 has been made to the very strong letter of remon- 
 strance against the style of correspondence adopted 
 by the Court of Directors which he caused to be 
 sent to the East India House shortly before he left 
 India. Although the resentment aroused by this 
 
LORD CLIVE 127 
 
 letter was not allowed to interfere with the re- 
 ception accorded to Clive by his late masters at 
 a time when the popular voice was so strongly 
 in his favour, it was not without its effect when 
 the first impressions created by his extraordinary 
 achievements had in some measure subsided ; and_ 
 among the Directors there were some who never 
 forgave the language of that letter. Foremost 
 among these was Lawrence Sullivan, one of the 
 ablest members of the Court, and probably the 
 most ambitious. While Clive was still in India, 
 Sullivan was among his warmest admirers. He was 
 one of the few members of the Direction who had 
 any personal knowledge of India, and Clive had 
 formed and expressed a high opinion of his capacity. 
 Indeed, he had rendered some help to Sullivan in 
 his candidature for the chairmanship of the Court 
 at a recent election. But when Clive returned 
 to England, and the praise of his extraordinary 
 successes was on everybody's lips, and when it 
 was seen that the great Minister of the time 
 extolled his merits and pronounced him to be 
 the one man who had saved ' our glory, honour and 
 reputation,' then Sullivan's admiration speedily under- 
 went a change, and was succeeded by a lasting 
 jealousy of Clive's influence. Moreover, Clive's 
 letter to Pitt, which has been already quoted, had 
 not been kept secret, and not unnaturally the 
 suggestion made in it, that the day might not be 
 
128 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 far distant when the supreme control over Indian 
 affairs would have to be transferred to the Crown, 
 was by no means acceptable in Leadenhall Street. 
 This suggestion, as we have said, was not fully 
 carried out for nearly a century ; but there can be 
 no doubt that it considerably influenced the legis- 
 lation regarding India at a much earlier date. The 
 India Bills, both of Charles Fox and of William 
 Pitt, and -the establishment under the latter of 
 the Board of Control, may both be said to have 
 owed their origin to Clive's letter to the elder 
 Pitt. 
 
 Clive's endeavours to obtain a suitable recognition 
 of the services rendered by Forde, and the urgency 
 with which he pressed reforms in the administrative 
 system, both civil and military, also seem to have 
 intensified Sullivan's hostility. Clive was much 
 impressed with the necessity of improving and 
 strengthening the Civil Service. He wanted young 
 men of ability sent out, and in larger numbers. He 
 urged the importance of maintaining a strong military 
 force. He advocated the grant of Royal commis- ' 
 sions, as Major- Generals, to the Governors of the 
 three Presidencies, as a check upon the pretensions 
 of the King's military officers. His opinions on 
 most public questions were much in advance of his 
 time, and were consequently not acceptable to persons 
 holding more limited views. The political situation 
 in England at the time was also a cause of Sullivan's 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 129 
 
 hostility. Very shortly after his return to England, 
 Clive was elected member for Shrewsbury, and on 
 entering the House of Commons at once ranged 
 himself among the followers of Pitt, for whose 
 genius and character he had the warmest admiration. 
 Pitt, however, resigned oiEce in October 1761, and 
 after a short interval was succeeded by Bute, of 
 whom Sullivan was a follower, but whom Clive 
 absolutely declined to join. He speedily attached 
 himself to George Grenville, with whose political 
 views he in the main concurred, and with whom he 
 remained on terms of intimacy until the death of 
 the latter. In entering Parliament, Clive does not 
 seem to have been actuated by any desire to take 
 an active part in English politics, except in so far 
 as his position as a member might strengthen his 
 influence over Indian administration. To promote 
 the welfare of India and the efHciency of its 
 Government appears to have been the main object 
 of his ambition. With this object he expended a 
 large sum of money (^^i 00,000 is the sum stated) 
 in acquiring votes at the East India House, for 
 friends upon whom he could rely to support 
 his projects of reform. Every ;^500 of East India 
 stock gave a vote at the Court of Proprietors, and 
 j^2000 was the qualification for a Director, In 
 order to check his opposition, Sullivan at an early 
 date caused it to be intimated to him that the 
 question of his title to the Jagfr which Mir Jafar 
 
 I 
 
1^,0 
 
 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 had conferred upon him was under consideration 
 at the India House. The intimation was for the 
 moment not without its effect ; for Clive felt that 
 the loss of the Jagir, the annual income from;which 
 has been variously stated at from ^27,000 to ^^ 30,000, 
 would materially weaken his influence ; but very 
 shortly afterwards the breach widened, and Sullivan, 
 who, notwithstanding strong opposition offered by 
 Clive and his friends, had been elected Chairman of 
 the Court, persuaded the majority of his colleagues 
 to send orders to Calcutta prohibiting any further 
 payments to Clive on account of the Jagir. To this 
 Clive at once replied by filing a bill in Chancery 
 against the Directors, and by giving notice to 
 the Government of Bengal that if they discon- 
 tinued the annual payment to him, he should 
 institute legal proceedings at Calcutta to enforce 
 his claim. 
 
 It is impossible to say what turn events might 
 have taken if the state of affairs in Bengal had con- 
 tinued in the position in which Clive had left them. 
 In all probability Clive would in that case have 
 been beaten in his contest with the India House, 
 and wfould have retired into private life. But the 
 position in Bengal rapidly assumed a phase which 
 necessitated the strongest measures to put a stop to 
 the abuses which had sprung up almost immediately 
 after Clive left India. Vansittart, whom Clive had 
 known at Madras, and who had been upon his re- 
 
LORD CLIVE 131 
 
 commendation appointed to succeed him as Governor 
 of Bengal, was fairly honest and well meaning, but 
 by no means a strong man. Why Clive should 
 have selected him as his successor it is difficult to 
 understand. At that time there were two men in 
 Bengal both of whom had stronger claims and far 
 greater abilities than Vansittart. One was Watts, 
 who, during the critical months which preceded 
 Plassey, had in the most difficult situation shown 
 great nerve and capacity, and had rendered most 
 valuable services to Clive. The other was Warren 
 Hastings, destined in a few years to occupy the 
 position which Clive had held, and to become the 
 first Governor-General of India. Hastings was the 
 younger man of the two. When Clive left India in 
 1 760, Hastings was only twenty-seven ; but his youth 
 can hardly have been the reason for rejecting him 
 in favour of Vansittart. His age at that time was 
 within a few months of that at which Clive had 
 first left India after having established his fame as 
 a soldier. The fact seems to have been that Clive, 
 with a lack of discernment which he seldom evinced, 
 had formed an impression that Hastings was some- 
 what deficient in those qualities which afterwards 
 proved to be his chief characteristics, viz., firmness 
 and tenacity of purpose. 
 
 Clive, when he left India in 1760, was by no 
 means free from misgivings as to the immediate 
 future. In a letter to his successor, written not 
 
I3Z BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 long before he embarked, he observed that certain 
 military reinforcements which were then expected 
 would, in his opinion, ' put Bengal out of all danger 
 but that of venality and corruption.' The latter 
 danger was not long in showing itself. Clive's 
 temporary successor was Holwell, who, ever mindful 
 of the sufferings he had undergone during that 
 terrible night in the Black Hole, had long entertained 
 an extreme dislike to Mir Jafar, and had determined 
 to take the first opportunity of displacing him. The 
 arrangements which he had made with this object 
 were not completed when Vansittart took charge. 
 But Vansittart quite fell in with Holwell's views, 
 and about the time of Clive's arrival in England, Mir 
 Jafar was removed from the Nawdbship, and his 
 post was conferred upon his son-in-law, Kisim Ali 
 Khan. This revolution, like the revolution of 1757, 
 was not effected without the exaction of a large 
 sum from the Bengal treasury. The members 
 of the Select Committee were on this occasion paid 
 j^200,ooo, of which ^^28,000 were received by 
 Vansittart. Nor was this exaction b}' any means the 
 only one to which the new Nawdb was subjected 
 during his brief occupancy of the Masnad. He 
 agreed, on condition of a money payment, to cede 
 to the English the three districts of Burdwan, 
 Midnapur and Chittagong, besides certain advantages 
 in the district of Sylhet, and to redeem by a cash 
 payment the jewels of Mir Jafar, which had been 
 
LORD CLIVE 133 
 
 received in part payment of the sum payable by the 
 latter after Plassey. 
 
 The tenure by Kdsim Ali of the Nawdbship did 
 not last long. Matters were brought to a crisis by 
 the rapacity of the Council, and indeed of the Civil 
 Service generally, in connection with the inland 
 transit duties. It had been arranged that country 
 goods, protected by an English pass, should be free 
 from taxation. Such a rule was, of course, absolutely 
 unjust to the native traders ; but it was the abuse 
 of the rule which brought matters to a head. The 
 English passes were openly sold, and were often 
 forged. The system was ruinous to the honest 
 native trader and to the revenues of the Nawdb. 
 The latter remonstrated ; but though supported by 
 Vansittart and by Warren Hastings, he found the 
 greatest diflScuIty in getting his remonstrance attended 
 to. At last the Council empowered Vansittart to 
 compromise the matter. The arrangement which 
 was made was extremely advantageous to the 
 English. While servants of the Company were to 
 be allowed to carry on the inland private trade on 
 payment of a fixed duty of nine per cent, on all 
 goods, the native traders were to pay a duty of 
 twenty-five per cent., and no passes were to be valid 
 unless they were signed by an agent of the Company. 
 Favourable as this compromise was to the English, 
 and flagrantly unjust as it was to the native traders, 
 and notwithstanding the fact that the Council had 
 
134 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 given full powers to Vansittart, a majority of the 
 Council refused to ratify the engagement, and 
 insisted that, except in the matter of the salt trade, 
 on which they agreed to a duty of two and a half 
 per cent., English private trade should be subjected 
 to no duty whatever. 
 
 The new Nawdb was a very diiFerent man from 
 his predecessor. He was clear-sighted and firm. On 
 learning that the engagements which had been 
 entered into by Vansittart, and had been executed 
 in the most formal manner, were rejected by the 
 Council, he at once issued orders abolishing all 
 duties, and establishing free trade throughout Bengal. 
 Thenceforth a declaration of war between the 
 English and Kdsim Ali was merely a question of 
 time. The immediate cause of it was an attack 
 which Mr Ellis, a violent, arbitrary man, who was 
 a member of the Bengal Council, and head of the 
 factory at Patna, made upon that city. It was 
 seized, but immediately afterwards re-captured by 
 the Nawdb's troops. 
 
 Ellis endeavoured to escape, but was taken prisoner, 
 while Mr Amyatt, another member of the Council, 
 who had been deputed by his colleagues to confer 
 with the Nawdb, was killed when attempting to 
 escape. Kasim Ali, in anticipation of differences 
 with the English, had taken steps very soon after his 
 accession to strengthen his position. He had moved 
 the seat of government from Murshidabad to Mungir, 
 
LORD CLIVE 135 
 
 a place 320 miles from Calcutta, where he employed 
 himself in re-forming and increasing his military- 
 forces. He had created a force of 15,000 cavalry and 
 25,000 infantry, disciplined and organised on the 
 model of the Company's troops. He had established 
 the manufacture of muskets of an improved pattern, 
 and had formed a foundry for casting cannon, and 
 trained up a corps of artillerymen. He was a good 
 man of business, and had placed the finances of Bengal 
 upon a sound footing. Shortly after his accession he 
 investigated the public accounts, compelled corrupt 
 subordinates to disgorge their ill-gotten gains, and 
 by enforcing the payment of all arrears of rent, and 
 revising the land assessment, he increased the revenue 
 and was thus enabled to discharge his obligations 
 to the English. 
 
 On hearing of Kdsim All's recapture of Patna, 
 the Council declared war against him, entrusting 
 the command of the Company's troops to Major 
 Adams, another officer from the 39th Foot, trained 
 in the school of Clive. Three battles were fought, 
 one at Katwa, close to Plassey, and the others at 
 Gheriah and Andhwa Nala. The fights at Gheriah 
 and Andhwa Nala were very severe, and proved that 
 Kdsim Ali's training of the Sepoys had enabled him 
 to provide a formidable force. At Gheriah the issue 
 was for some time very doubtful, and had it not 
 been for the gallantry and strategical skill of Adams, 
 the victory would have probably been won by Kdsim 
 
136 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Ali's troops. Andhwa Nala was also a hotly con- 
 tested fight. The position of the enemy was ex- 
 tremely strong by nature, and had been considerably 
 strengthened under Kisim Ali's orders. In this 
 case the victory was partly due to the treachery of 
 an English deserter, who, after having deserted from 
 the British and taken service under Kdsim Ali, 
 deserted back, and gave information to Adams of 
 a ford through a morass, which enabled the latter to 
 capture the key of the enemy's position, and thereby 
 to win the battle. In these battles the superiority 
 in the numerical strength of the forces engaged was, 
 as at Plassey, and in almost all battles in India, largely 
 on the side of the native troops. The defeat at 
 Andhwa Nala compelled Kisim Ali to flee into 
 Oudh, but before his departure he gave orders for 
 a massacre of the European prisoners who had been 
 taken at and near Patna, including Ellis — a massacre 
 which, according to Macaulay, surpassed in atrocity 
 that of the Black Hole. Previous to this Kdsim Ali 
 had caused RAm Narayan, the able Governor of 
 Patna, whom Vansittart had weakly placed in his 
 power, and the Seths, who had been so helpful to 
 Clive before and after Plassey, to be murdered. 
 
 After Katwa, Mir Jafar was for the second time 
 placed upon the throne, and for the second time was 
 compelled to pay large sums to the Company and to 
 the Company's servants, to confirm the cession of the 
 three districts which had been ceded by Kisim Ali, 
 
LORD CLIVE 137 
 
 and to reimpose the transit duties upon native traders, 
 while exempting the servants of the Company. One 
 of the most atrocious of the exactions to w^hich he 
 Vfzs subjected, w^as the payment of a large sum as 
 compensation to the English for the losses which 
 they had sustained in the war with Kdsim Ali — a 
 war entirely brought on by the criminal and tyran- 
 nical acts of the Council, 
 
 Some six months later, Bengal was again invaded 
 by the Nawib of Oudh, acting in concert with 
 Kdsim Ali and with the Emperor Shah Alam, who, 
 as Shdhzdda, had threatened Patna, but had withdrawn 
 on the advance of Clive. This incursion, after a long 
 campaign, was repelled by the Company's troops 
 under the command of Major, afterwards Sir Hector, 
 Munro, who at Buxdr won a decisive victory over the 
 combined forces arrayed against him. Here again 
 the battle was won by the bravery of the small English 
 contingent, numbering only 1200 men, supported by 
 8000 native Sepoys, and led by an able and determined 
 commander, against an army of 50,000 men, most ot 
 them well disciplined, and supported by a numerous 
 artillery. After the battle, the Emperor abandoned 
 his allies and joined the English camp. The Nawdb 
 of Oudh submitted, and Kdsim Ali fled to Rohilkhand. 
 The battle of Buxdr may be regarded as in its results 
 hardly, if at all, less important than Plassey. It is 
 further remarkable as a victory won against heavy 
 odds by troops of whom the native portion were in a 
 
138 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 state of mutiny very shortly before it was fought, and 
 had to be coerced by the execution of twenty-four of 
 the ringleaders, who were blown from guns. Buxdr 
 is justly included by Colonel Malleson among the 
 decisive battles of India.' 
 
 During the whole of this time the affairs of the 
 Company were going from bad to worse. While the 
 Calcutta Council and their subordinates were en- 
 riching themselves at the expense of the so-called 
 rulers of Bengal and of their native subjects, the in- 
 terests of the Company were being grossly neglected. 
 Every ship which arrived from Calcutta brought in- 
 telligence of the abuses which were being perpetrated, 
 while the Company's investments were steadily falling 
 off. Macaulay describes the misgovernment of the 
 English during the five years which followed the 
 departure of Clive from Bengal as having been carried 
 to a point ' such as seems hardly compatible with the 
 very existence of society.' Revolution succeeded 
 revolution, and 'at every one of these revolutions 
 the new prince divided among his foreign masters 
 whatever could be scraped together from the treasury 
 of his fallen predecessors. The immense population 
 of his dominions was given up as a prey to those who 
 had made him a sovereign, and who could unmake 
 him. The servants of the Company obtained, not 
 for their employers, but for themselves, a monopoly of 
 
 ' The Decisive Battles of India, from 1 746 fii 1 849 inclusive. By Colonel 
 G. B. Malleson, C.S.I. 
 
LORD CLIVE 139 
 
 almost the whole internal trade. They forced the 
 natives to buy dear and sell cheap. They insulted 
 with impunity the tribunals, the police, and the fiscal 
 authorities of the country. They covered with their 
 protection a set of native dependents, who ranged 
 through the provinces, spreading desolation and terror 
 wherever they appeared. Every servant of a British 
 factor was armed with all the power of his master, 
 and his master was armed with all the power of the 
 Company. Enormous fortunes were thus accumulated 
 at Calcutta, while thirty millions of human beings 
 were reduced to the extremity of wretchedness.' ' 
 Terrible as this picture is, there is no reason to believe 
 that it is in any way exaggerated. 
 
 The opinions recorded by the Court of Directors, 
 after they had become acquainted with the actual facts, 
 were in substance not less emphatic. In reply to a 
 despatch written by Clive after his return to Bengal, 
 they expressed their condemnation of what had been 
 going on in these words : — 
 
 ' When we look back to the system that Lord Clive 
 and the gentlemen of the Select Committee found to 
 be established, it presents to us a Subah (Nawdb) 
 disarmed, with a revenue of almost two millions 
 sterling, for so much seems to have been left, exclusive 
 of our demands upon him, at the mercy of our 
 servants, who had adopted an unheard of ruinous 
 
 ' Macaulay's Critical and Historical Essays in one volume, 1851, 
 p. 521. 
 
140 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 principle of an interest distinc from the Company. 
 This principle showed itself in laying hands upon 
 everything they did not deem the Company's 
 property. 
 
 ' In the province of Burdwdn, the Resident and his 
 Council took an annual stipend of near 80,000 rupees 
 per annum from the Rajd, in addition to the Com- 
 pany's salary. This stands on the Burdwan accounts, 
 and we fear was not the whole ; for we apprehend it 
 went further, and that they carried this pernicious 
 principle even to the sharing with the Rdjd of all 
 he collected beyond the stipulated malguzdri, or land 
 revenue, overlooking the point of duty to the Com- 
 pany to whom properly everything belonged that 
 was not necessary for the Rdjd's support. It has been 
 the principle, too, on which our servants have falsely 
 endeavoured to gloss over the crime of their proceed- 
 ings on the accession of the present Subah ; and we 
 fear would have been soon extended to the grasping 
 of the greatest share of that part of the Nawdb's 
 revenue which was not allotted to the Company. In 
 short, this principle was directly undermining the 
 whole fabric; for whilst the Company were sinking 
 under the burden of the war, our servants were en- 
 riching themselves from those very funds that ought 
 to have supported the war.' ' 
 
 Sir John Malcolm, after a long service in India, and 
 
 ' Gleig's Life of Cli-ve, p. 191. 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 141 
 
 possessing an intimate acquaintance with its people 
 and with its history, states that ' there is no page in 
 our Indian history which is so revolting as the four 
 years of weak and inefficient rule of Mr Vansittart.' 
 A more modern writer, the late Lord Justice James, 
 in his admirable sketch of British Rule in India, 
 writes of ' the rampant misrule and uncontrolled 
 license' which prevailed at this time in Bengal. 
 The same writer characterises these years as ' the 
 darkest in the history of British rule in India.' ' To 
 the same effect is the testimony of the native historian 
 of the time. The Mahommadan author of the Siyar- 
 ul-Mutakharin, while praising the bravery and the 
 great military qualities of the English, goes on to 
 say : ' If to so many military qualifications ' this nation 
 ' knew how to join the arts of government, if they 
 exerted as much ingenuity and solicitude in relieving 
 the people of God as they do in whatever concerns 
 their military affairs, no nation in the world would 
 be preferable to them or worthier of command. O 
 God, come to the assistance of Thine afflicted servants 
 and deliver them from the oppressions which they 
 suffer.' 
 
 When this state of things became known in 
 England, the fears of the proprietors of India stock 
 were seriously aroused. Very speedily there arose a 
 demand for the reappointment of Clive as the only 
 
 ' The British in India, by the late Right Hon. Sir William Melbourne 
 James, Lord Justice of Appeal, pp. 36 and 40. 
 
142 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 man, either in England or in India, who was fit to 
 cope with the evil. The alarm thus created origin- 
 ated, it is to be feared, not so much in shame at the 
 disgrace which was being inflicted upon the British 
 name by the malpractices of the Company's servants, 
 as in fears for the destruction of the Company's 
 dividends. Sullivan and his friends in the Direction 
 were of course opposed to the reappointment of Clive, 
 and did what they could to prevent it ; but they 
 were at once overruled by the Court of Proprietors, 
 who, by an enormous majority, decided that Clive 
 should be invited to return to India, not only as 
 Governor of Bengal, but with authority over all the 
 Company's possessions in the East. It was also pro- 
 posed that Clive's Jagfr should be at once restored, 
 and that Clive's right to it on a permanent tenure 
 should be affirmed. On this point Clive made an 
 alternative proposition which was readily accepted, 
 viz., that his tenure of the Jagi'r should be confirmed 
 to him for ten years, if he lived so long. But this 
 concession did not, in his opinion, suffice unless another 
 step were taken which would enable him to discharge 
 in a satisfactory manner the important duties which 
 it was proposed to entrust to him. This was no less 
 than the removal of his enemy Sullivan from the 
 chairmanship of the Company. Clive carried his 
 point, but not without a struggle ; for Sullivan had 
 several supporters among the Directors, and Bute, 
 though not at that time in office, was able to exert 
 
LORD CLIVE 143 
 
 considerable influence in his favour. The Proprietors, 
 however, as a body, were determined that no obstacle 
 should be allowed to stand in the way of Clive's 
 acceptance of the government. It was in vain that 
 Sullivan and his friends argued that the appointment 
 of Clive would be unfair to more than one public 
 servant in India, that it would be unjust to supersede 
 Vansittart, whom they supposed to be still at the head 
 of the government, and that Spencer, a Bombay civil 
 servant who had been nominated to succeed Vansittart, 
 ought not to be passed over. The Court of Proprietors 
 refused, and indignantly refused, to listen to any of 
 these arguments. 
 
 The election of Directors took place in the spring, 
 and Clive's opponents, finding that they could not 
 prevail against the general desire that he should 
 resume his post in India, endeavoured to hurry his 
 departure in order that he might be out of the way 
 when the impending election to the Direction took 
 place. But Clive was determined, and was not to be 
 shaken in his decision, to remain in England until the 
 election was over, and when he was informed that a 
 ship was available for him, he declined to sail, repeat- 
 ing the conditions on which he had accepted the 
 appointment. An attempt was then made to procure 
 the annulment of his appointment ; but this failed. 
 The election was held on the 25th April, and the 
 result was less favourable to Clive than had been 
 expected ; for out of the twenty-four Directors twelve 
 
144 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 were supporters of Clive and twelve of Sullivan ; but 
 both the chairman and deputy-chairman were friends 
 of Clive. In regard to the higher appointments in 
 India, Clive's views were adopted with the single 
 exception that Forde, whose claims to high military 
 employment were unquestionable, would seem to have 
 been again ignored. Whether Clive again pressed 
 Forde's claims on this occasion does not clearly 
 appear, but we know that it was at the instance 
 of Clive that Forde in 1769 was sent out as one 
 of the supervisors appointed to report upon and 
 control Indian administration. 
 
 After all that had taken place, it is not surprising 
 that the Bengal Council, as then composed, com- 
 manded little or no confidence. In these circum- 
 stances Clive urged that he should be invested with 
 power to overrule the Council on his own responsi- 
 \ bility whenever he deemed it necessary to do so. This 
 power, which since 1793 has been vested in succes- 
 sive Governors-General, the Court of Directors at 
 that time did not think fit to give ; but in order to 
 meet Clive's views they resorted to the somewhat 
 clumsy expedient of appointing a Select Committee, 
 including and nominated by Clive, which was em- 
 powered to act without consulting the Council. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CLIVE RETURNS TO INDIA FOR THE LAST TIME 
 
 DEATH OF mIr JAFAR SUCCESSION OF NAZIM 
 
 UD DAULAH APPOINTMENT OF SELECT COM- 
 MITTEE SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN MEMBERS OF 
 
 THE COUNCIL INCOMPETENCY OF THE NEW 
 
 NAWAB TRANSFER OF THE DIwAnI TO THE 
 
 COMPANY* 
 
 Clive sailed from Portsmouth on the 4th June 1 764, 
 and after a tedious and prolonged voyage, reached 
 Calcutta on the 3d May in the following year. 
 Before sailing he placed before the chairman of 
 the Company his views on the situation in India. 
 He condemned the course taken by the Govern- 
 , ment of Bengal in permitting Kdsim Ali to establish 
 himself at so great a distance from Calcutta that the 
 Government could not exercise an effective control 
 over his proceedings, and in practically encouraging 
 him to assume an independent position. ' The princes 
 of the country,' he said, 'must in a great measure 
 be dependent on us, or we totally so on them.' In his 
 opinion it was ' impossible to rely upon the modera- 
 tion or justice of Mussulmans.' He had long been 
 
 K 
 
1.1-6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 convinced that the whole of the British possessions 
 in India ought to be under one head, and he now 
 expressed his opinion 'that if ever the appointment 
 of such an officer as Governor-General should become 
 necessary, he ought to be established in Bengal, as 
 the greatest weight of your civil, commercial, political 
 and military aiFairs will always be in that province.' 
 
 Clive arrived at Madras on the loth April 1765, 
 and then heard of the death of Mir Jafar, which had 
 taken place on the 25th February. Mir Jafar had 
 left a natural son, Ndzim ud Daulah, a lad of eighteen, 
 and a grandson, a son of Mlran, a child of six. Clive 
 at once decided to recognise the grandson as Nawdb, 
 and to rule in his name during his minority, but on 
 reaching Calcutta he found that Nazim ud Daulah 
 had already been placed on the throne. In the cir- 
 cumstances, this appointment, made as it was with 
 the full knowledge that Clive was expected to arrive 
 immediately, was obviously indecent. The motive 
 for it is supplied by Mill, who tersely remarks : 
 ' Ndzim ud Daulah could give presents ; the infant 
 son of Mlran, whose revenues must be accounted for 
 to the Company, could not.' 
 
 Clive's unfavourable opinion of the Council was 
 speedily justified. Those gentlemen had lost no time 
 in following the precedents of 1757, of 1761 and of 
 1764, by making it a condition of the succession of 
 the new Nawdb that he should make large presents 
 to themselves. The sums thus exacted on this occa- 
 
LORD CLIVE 147 
 
 sion amounted to ;f 139,357, and were received in 
 defiance of a despatch from the Court of Directors, 
 ^hich reached Calcutta a fortnight before Mfr Jafar's 
 death, forbidding their servants to accept presents 
 from natives, and requiring them to execute cove- 
 nants framed to secure obedience to this order. The 
 order, however, had been ignored, and the covenants 
 had remained unexecuted. Shortly before this time 
 Vansittart had retired, and had been succeeded by- 
 Spencer. Of this gentleman Clive had previously 
 formed a good opinion, but on looking into matters 
 he came to the conclusion that Spencer was as cor- 
 rupt as his colleagues, and also that he was extremely 
 deficient in independence of character. He had lowered 
 the status of the office of Governor to such an extent 
 that, in Clive's words, ' the office had been hunted 
 down, stripped of its dignity and then divided into 
 sixteen shares ' — sixteen being the number of members 
 of Council. Clive lost no time, on assuming the 
 government, in notifying to the Council the powers 
 which had been assigned to the Select Committee. 
 Two of the members of Council seeming disposed 
 to question those powers, Clive at once cut them 
 short, intimating that he would not permit any dis- 
 cussion on the subject, but that if the members of 
 Council thought fit, they might record their dissents. 
 Within a week after his arrival, he insisted upon the 
 immediate execution of the covenants ordered by the 
 Court, failing which the recusants were to be sus- 
 
14-8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 pended from the service. His firmness prevailed, and 
 the covenants were signed forthwith. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Clive's position was one 
 of great difficulty. It was not to be supposed that 
 the recipient of the enormous wealth which he 
 had accepted from the Nawdb of his own creation 
 after Plassey would be allowed to enforce the new 
 policy without being subjected to a strong remon- 
 strance from those who might say, as they did say, 
 that they had only followed the example set by him. 
 Clive's answer was that the two cases were very 
 different. When Plassey was fought, there were no 
 orders prohibiting the acceptance of presents by public 
 servants, and, moreover, the revolution which then 
 took place was decidedly beneficial, not only to the 
 interests of the Company, but to the interests of the 
 people of Bengal, or would have been so if it had not 
 been for the venality and corruption of the Govern- 
 ment which had succeeded his own. The answer was 
 effective as a reply to the persons to whom it was 
 addressed, but it clearly furnished no justification of 
 the acceptance by a man in Clive's position of large 
 sums of money from a foreign prince. The real 
 defence, and this by no means complete, was that 
 suggested by Macaulay, that the Company, by pay- 
 ing very small salaries to its servants, 'had, by im- 
 plication at least, authorised its agents to enrich 
 themselves by means of the liberality of the native 
 princes, and by other means still more objectionable,' 
 
LORD CLIVE 149 
 
 This defence clearly fell to the ground after the 
 acceptance of presents had been prohibited by the 
 Directors of the Company, and even before that pro- 
 hibition such a defence could have no application to 
 the circumstances under vv^hich large sums of money 
 had been extorted from Kdsim Ali, and more recently 
 from Mfr Jafar and from his son, NAzim ud Daulah. 
 Whatever might be said in extenuation of the accept- 
 ance of presents voluntarily offered by a native chief, 
 there could be no justification for the course taken 
 in 1 761, when Mir Jafar was dethroned and the 
 NawAbship was practically sold to Kdsim Ali. Under 
 the same category must be regarded the presents re- 
 ceived from Mfr Jafar in 1764, in consideration of 
 his reinstatement on the Masnad. In the more recent 
 case of Nizim ud Daulah, there was a clear viola- 
 tion of orders, which no amount of casuistry could 
 justify or extenuate. 
 
 Clive at first found some difficulty in getting at 
 all the facts connected with the accession of Nazim 
 ud Daulah. For the purpose of clearing up matters, 
 he invited the young prince and his minister, together 
 with one or two other Bengal notables, to Calcutta, 
 and, fortified by the information then obtained, and 
 after hearing the defence of the persons implicated, 
 he at once suspended from the service three members 
 of the Council, Messrs Spencer, Johnston and Ley- 
 cester, as well as some other high officials. This 
 step, right as it was, and necessary in the public 
 
150 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 interests, entailed upon Clive, as he doubtless fore- 
 saw, the determined hostility of the persons thus 
 dealt with. This hostility manifested itself soon after 
 his return to England, when Johnston, aided by several 
 members of the House of Commons, brought charges 
 against him. These, however, will form the subject 
 of a subsequent chapter. 
 
 It was on the occasion of this visit from the young 
 Nawdb that Clive resolved to institute a change in the 
 arrangements which had been made by the Council 
 for conducting the administration of Bengal. The 
 Council, when placing Nizim ud Daulah on the 
 throne, had required him to appoint a Muhammadan, 
 named Muhammad Rizd Khdn, to aid him, and 
 practically to carry on the management of his affairs. 
 Riza Khdn was an able man, but somewhat dictatorial. 
 The Nawdb disliked him, and Clive was not favour- 
 ably impressed by him. Clive accordingly tried the 
 experiment of associating with him two Hindus, viz., 
 Dulib Rdm, who had taken part in the negotiations 
 before Plassey, and one of the Seths. But notwith- 
 standing these appointments, Riza Khan managed to 
 hold his own. 
 
 We have seen that Clive's experience and his reflec- 
 tions upon the course of events during his first visit to 
 Bengal led him to form several important conclusions. 
 One was that the Company's territories were likely to 
 become too large and too important to be left under 
 the government of a trading company, and that they 
 
LORD CLIVE 151 
 
 should be taken over by the Crown. This conclusion 
 was not unfavourably entertained by the elder Pitt, 
 and had the latter remained in health and in power, 
 it would probably have been carried into effect. As 
 it was, although Clive's suggestion doubtless helped 
 to shape various measures which, as time went on, 
 were carried out for the purpose of increasing the 
 efficiency of the government of India, and some of 
 them at no very distant date, it took nearly a hundred 
 years before full effect was given to it. Another of 
 Clive's proposals was very speedily brought into opera- 
 tion. It was the transfer of the administrative power, 
 beginning with the management of the revenue, and 
 speedily extended to the administration generally, 
 from the Nawdb of Bengal to the Company. 
 
 Clive had felt for some time that there was not 
 room for a double government in Bengal, and that, to 
 use the words already quoted, 'the princes of the 
 country must be in a great measure dependent onj 
 us, or we totally so on them.' It was under the', 
 influence of this conviction that, on hearing at 
 Madras of the death of Mfr Jafar, and not foresee- 
 ing that he might be forestalled by his future col-) 
 leagues in the selection of a successor, Clive had 
 determined to recognise Mir Jafar's grandson as 
 Nawdb, and, governing in his name and with the 
 authority of the Emperor, to adopt the system of 
 government which he deemed to be most conducive 
 to the welfare of the people of the three province^ 
 
152 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 as well as to the interests of the Company. This, 
 for the moment, seemed to be impossible, for Ndzim 
 ud Daulah was no longer a minor ; but of course a 
 great deal depended upon the character of the new 
 Nawdb. If he had been a strong man, in short, if he 
 had been a second Kdsim Ali, Clive's vision could 
 not have been realised ; but, as it turned out, Clive 
 was not long in discovering that Ndzim ud Daulah 
 was, both by character and by education, absolutely 
 unfit to conduct the government of Bengal for a 
 single day. Indeed, when Clive broached to him the 
 plan under which the Diwdni was to be conferred 
 upon the Company, or, in other words, the duty 
 of collecting and administering the revenues was 
 to be discharged by the latter, while the Nawdb 
 was to receive a fixed income of fifty lakhs a year, 
 ultimately raised to fifty-three lakhs, wherewith to 
 defray his personal expenses and the outgoings of his 
 Court, the proposal met with the most ready acceptance, 
 the young prince exclaiming, 'Thank God, I shall 
 now be able to have as many dancing girls as I please.' 
 This arrangement was made at Murshidabad, but 
 there were other treaties to be executed, one of 
 which was essential to the validity of that which 
 had just been made. Before, however, taking up 
 the business here referred to, Clive deemed it advis- 
 able to avail himself of the opportunity of the Nawdb 
 Vazi'r of Oudh being at Benares to place upon a satis- 
 factory footing the relations between the Company 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 '53 
 
 and that prince. This undertaking proved to be by 
 no means difficult. The Nawdb Vazfr had very 
 recently been thoroughly beaten at the battle of 
 Buxdr by the Company's troops, and vs'as both sur- 
 prised and pleased at the liberal, indeed generous, 
 terms which Clive was willing to accept. There 
 was only one point, and that was not pressed by 
 Clive, upon which the Nawdb Vazlr would make 
 no concession. He would not allow any English 
 factories to be established in his territories. He 
 had seen the result of the establishment of such 
 factories in Bengal, and had wisely decided to give 
 no opening for the disputes which he felt sure would 
 arise from the grant of trading facilities to foreigners. 
 The terms which were eventually settled were that 
 Oudh proper should be restored to the Nawdb Vazfr, 
 that Allahabad and Corah should be restored to the 
 Emperor, and that the Nawab Vazfr should pay 
 j^6oo,ooo as compensation for the expenses incurred 
 by the Company in the war. It was also agreed that 
 the Rdjd of Benares, who, having been a subject ot 
 Oudli, had during the war submitted to the English, 
 should retain his districts, but in subordination to the 
 Nawib Vazlr, that there should be a defensive alliance 
 between the Company, the Subdhddr of Bengal and 
 the Nawib Vazfr, and that the Company should, in 
 case of need, supply the Nawdb Vazfr with troops, 
 but should be paid for their services. 
 
 These terms, though discussed at length, were not 
 
154 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 finally agreed upon until Clive, in company with the 
 Nawdb Vazir, had reached Allahabad, where the 
 Emperor was awaiting them. The latter brought 
 forward numerous demands, but was obliged to 
 abandon most of them, and the negotiations resulted 
 in the grant of the Diwdni already referred to, in 
 return for which the Company were bound to pay 
 to the Emperor an annual tribute of twenty-six 
 lakhs of rupees. In the language of the grant, the 
 Diwdni was given 'as a free gift without the asso- 
 ciation of any other person.' 
 
 The policy of this settlement would seem from 
 the outset to have been regarded by Clive without 
 any misgivings. When reporting what had taken 
 place in a despatch addressed to the Court of 
 Directors, under date the 30th September 1765, he 
 defended his policy in these words : — 
 
 ' The perpetual struggles for superiority between 
 the Nawabs and your agents, together with the 
 recent proofs before us of notorious and avowed 
 corruption, have rendered us unanimously of opinion, 
 after the most mature deliberation, that no other 
 method can be suggested of laying the axe to the 
 root of all those evils than that of obtaining the 
 Diwdni of Bengal, Behar and Orissa for the 
 Company. By establishing the power of the Great 
 Moghul, we have likewise established his rights ; 
 and His Majesty, from principles of gratitude, of 
 equity, and of policy, has thought proper to bestow 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 '55 
 
 this important employment on the Company, the 
 nature of which is the collecting of all the 
 revenues, and after defraying the expenses of the 
 army, and allowing a sufficient fund for the support 
 of the Nizdmat, to remit the remainder to Delhi, 
 or wherever the King shall reside or direct. But 
 as the King has been graciously pleased to bestow 
 on the Company, for ever, such surplus as shall 
 arise from the revenues upon certain stipulations 
 and agreements expressed in the Sanad, we have 
 settled with the Nawdb, with his own free will 
 and consent, that the sum of fifty-three lakhs 
 shall be annually paid to him for the support of 
 his dignity and all contingent expenses, exclusive 
 of the charge of maintaining an army, which is 
 to be defrayed out of the revenues ceded to the 
 Company by this royal grant of the Diwdni ; and 
 indeed the Nawdb has abundant reason to be well 
 satisfied with the conditions of this agreement, 
 whereby a fund is secured to him without trouble 
 or danger, adequate to all the purposes of such 
 grandeur and happiness as a man of his sentiments 
 has any conception of enjoying. More would 
 serve only to disturb his quiet, endanger his 
 government, and sap the foundation of that solid 
 structure of power and wealth which, at length, 
 is happily reared and completed by the Company, 
 after a vast expense of blood and treasure. 
 
 ' By this acquisition of the Diwdni, your 
 
156 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 possessions and influence are rendered permanent 
 and secure, since no future Nawdb will either 
 have power or riches sufficient to attempt your 
 overthrow, by means either of force or corruption. 
 All revolutions must henceforth be at an end, 
 as there will be no fund for secret services, for 
 donations, or for restitutions. The Nawdb cannot 
 answer the expectations of the venal and mercenary, 
 nor will the Company comply with demands in- 
 jurious to themselves out of their own revenues. 
 The experience of years has convinced us that a 
 division of power is impossible without generating 
 discontent and hazarding the whole. All must 
 belong either to the Company or to the NawAb. 
 We leave you to judge which alternative is the 
 most desirable, and the most expedient in the 
 present circumstances of aiFairs. As to ourselves, 
 we know of no other system we could adopt that 
 would less affect the Nawdb's dignity, and at the 
 same time secure the Company against the fatal 
 effect of future revolutions, than this of the 
 Diwani. The power is now lodged where it can 
 only be lodged with safety to us, so that we may 
 pronounce with some degree of confidence that the 
 worst which will happen in future to the Company 
 will proceed from temporary ravages only, which can 
 never become so general as to prevent your revenues 
 from yielding a sufficient fund to defray your civil 
 and military charges and furnish your investments. 
 
LORD CLIVE 157 
 
 'The more we reflect on the situation of your 
 afiairs, the stronger appear the reasons for accept- 
 ing the Diwdni of these Provinces, by which alone 
 we could establish a power sufficient to perpetuate 
 the possessions we hold and the influence we 
 enjoy. While the Nawdb acted in quality of 
 collector for the Moghul, the means of supporting 
 our military establishment depended upon his pleasure. 
 In the most-crrtical'situations, while we stood balanc- 
 ing on the extreme border of destruction, his stipu- 
 lated payments were slow and deficient, his revenues 
 withheld by disaffected Rijas and turbulent Zamin- 
 ddrs, who despised the weakness of his government ; 
 or they were squandered in profusion and dissipated 
 in corruption, the never-failing symptoms of a 
 declining constitution and feeble administration. 
 Hence we were frequently disappointed of those 
 supplies, upon the receipt of which depended the 
 very existence of the Company in Bengal.' 
 
 The settlement thus arrived at was in its results 
 the most important that had yet been eiFected in 
 India on behalf of the East India Company. It 
 made the Company not only in fact, but in title, 
 the rulers of Bengal.; and at the same time their 
 territorial acquisitions Jn, other parts of India were 
 confirmed to them. It established the peace between 
 the Company and the_^a^ih,qf Ojidh, which re- 
 mained unbroken until. 1855, when, owing to jhe 
 long-continued misgoyernment of Oudh, that pro- 
 
158 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 vince was annexed by Lord Dalhousie's Government 
 to British territory, and the Nawab was removed to 
 Calcutta, and, after the mutiny of the Bengal army, 
 to British Burma. 
 
 Important as the arrangement was, it cannot be 
 said that it completely met the requirements of the case. 
 It was open to some of the objections which invariably 
 attach to a double government. Under it, the collec- 
 tion of the revenue was left to persons appointed by 
 the representatives of the Company, and the Company 
 was thus insured against a failure of the funds which 
 were necessary to meet the expenses of their adminis- 
 tration. The army was placed under the Company, 
 but the administration of justice was left under the 
 Nawib. It was Clive's policy to rely as far as possible 
 upon native agency, and to maintain the semblance 
 of the Nawab's authority, while retaining the real 
 power in the hands of the Company. Very soon, 
 however, he found it necessary to appoint three 
 English supervisors to control the collection of the 
 revenues ; but this plan proved upon trial to 
 be by no means sufScient, and after a lapse of 
 seven years, Warren Hastings was compelled to 
 entrust the executive duties, including the collection 
 and administration of the revenues, to English civil 
 servants, who were, and still are, styled collectors. 
 The creation of courts of justice, and of some 
 semblance of police, was the work of the same 
 very able administrator. In thus postponing the 
 
LORD CLIVE 159 
 
 open assumption by the English of the government ; 
 of Bengal, Clive was actuated by political con- ; 
 siderations. He deemed it inexpedient, having j 
 regard to the position of the Company in re- 
 lation to foreign European powders, and also in 
 relation to the independent native princes, that the 
 Company should appear openly as the rulers of 
 Bengal, and for this reason he maintained the 
 pageant of a Nawdb, ' through whom any en- 
 croachment attempted by foreign powers could be 
 effectually crushed by the military force at our 
 disposal,' and 'all real grievances complained of by 
 them could through the same channel be examined 
 into and redressed.' Clive was unwilling to ' do| 
 any act by an exertion of the English power which 
 can equally be done by the Nawdb at our instance, 
 as that would be throwing off the mask, and would 
 be declaring the Company Subah of the Provinces.'/ 
 
 Clive's views as to the limits of the Company's\ 
 territory were at that time very decided. His 
 foreign policy was by no means a forward one. He^- 
 considered it absolutely unsafe to advance beyond; 
 Allahabad, and held that the English should be con- : 
 tent with the three provinces of Bengal, Behir and 
 Orissa, in addition to their acquisitions in South and 
 Western India. In a state paper which he wrote at 
 this time, the following expressions occur : — 
 
 ' Our possessions should be bounded by the Pro- 
 vinces.' ' Studiously maintain peace ; it is the ground- 
 
i6o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 work of our prosperity.' ' Never consent to act offen- 
 sively against any powers except in defence of our 
 own, the King's or the Nawdb Vazfr's dominions, as 
 stipulated by treaty, and above all things be assured 
 that a march to Delhi would be not only a vain 
 and fruitless project, but attended with destruction 
 to our own army, and perhaps put a period to the 
 very being of the Company in Bengal.' 
 
 The Mahrattas were then in possession of Delhi, 
 and Clive had been urged by the young Emperor to 
 advance upon that city and help him to recover it ; 
 but to all such suggestions he turned a deaf ear. He 
 advised the Emperor to reside within the Company's 
 territory, and refused to assist him in any enterprise 
 beyond its limits. A few years before — indeed, up to 
 the time of his last return to India — he had held 
 diiFerent views ; but the state of corruption in the 
 civil service which he discovered on his return 
 satisfied him that the three Provinces which had been 
 made over to the Company would fully tax the 
 capacity of the agency which was likely to be available. 
 As to the reinstatement of the Emperor at Delhi, 
 he was deterred by other considerations. Clive had 
 formed a very poor opinion of the Emperor's capacity 
 and also of his honesty. He discovered at a very critical 
 time, to which reference will be made presently, that 
 a threatened invasion by the Mahrattas had been pro- 
 jected at the instance of the Emperor, although the 
 latter was then in close alliance with the Company. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OFFICIAL SALARIES AND PRIVATE TRADE LORD 
 
 CORNWALLIS'S VIEWS DISCONTENT IN THE CIVIL 
 
 SERVICE MUTINY IN THE ARMY DOUBLE 
 
 BATTA CONDUCT OF SIR ROBERT FLETCHER 
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MUTINY COURT OF DIREC- 
 TORS ON CLIVE's last ADMINISTRATION CLIVE's 
 
 STATE OF HEALTH HE TAKES LEAVE OF HIS 
 
 COLLEAGUES. 
 
 Clive's stay in India on this occasion vi^as destined 
 to be short, but there were two important questions 
 with which he was compelled to deal before he could; 
 think of retiring, viz., the state of the civil service 
 and the discontent, bordering upon mutiny, among 
 the English officers of the Bengal army./ 
 ^ We have seen what evils had resulted from allowing 
 the civil servants of the Company to carry on trade 
 on their own account, and how, by the abuses con- 
 nected with this permission, they had driven Kdsim 
 Ali into a war which, had it . not been for the 
 ability and gallantry of some of the chief military 
 officers in the service, might have put an end to the 
 
1 62 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 existence of the Company, and with it to British rule 
 in India. The main cause of these evils was the in- 
 adequacy of the salaries allowed to the civil servants. 
 The salary of a member of Council was only ^300 
 a year — an income upon which it was impossible 
 for him to live, still more impossible for him to 
 save anything for the future. The salaries of servants 
 of the lower grades were still smaller. To meet 
 the difficulty the Court of Directors had permitted 
 their servants to add to their incomes by embark- 
 ing in private trade, and had tacitly acquiesced in 
 their receiving large presents from the natives. It 
 was a long time before the Court could be brought 
 to see that the only suitable remedy lay in a large 
 augmentation of salaries, accompanied by an absolute 
 1 prohibition of private trade. This was the remedy 
 Iwhich Clive and his Committee urged upon the Court, 
 but that body absolutely refused to sanction it. They 
 were still traders, unable to realise their duties and 
 responsibilities as the rulers of what was destined to 
 be a great Empire. It was not until more than a 
 quarter of a century had elapsed, that in 1 792, after 
 the first capture of Seringapatam and the acquisi- 
 tion of the large territory in the south of India 
 which that capture brought with it, they were induced 
 by an urgent representation addressed to them by 
 the Marquis of Cornwallis to sanction the measure 
 which had in vain been propounded by Clive. y 
 The following were Lord Cornwallis's words : — 
 
LORD CLIVE 163 
 
 ' I consider it a duty to you and to my country 
 to declare that the best rules and regulations that 
 can be framed, either by yourselves or by the govern- 
 ments in India, will prove totally nugatory and useless 
 unless you adopt as a decided and fixed principle 
 that liberal salaries shall be annexed to every office 
 of trust and responsibility at all the presidencies ; 
 that all perquisites shall be abolished ; and that the 
 most vigorous checks shall be established to prevent 
 your servants from attempting to acquire fortunes by 
 means that are often practised, but more publicly 
 avovsred, but for the pursuit of which many of them 
 find an almost unanswerable apology by representing 
 the impossibility of their even existing upon their nar- 
 row and wretched public allowances. The system that 
 has been so long and fatally pursued in this country, 
 of granting trifling salaries to men employed in high 
 trust, and who are surrounded by great temptations, 
 and of leaving them to look for their subsistence and 
 future hope of retirement to perquisites and unavowed 
 emoluments, is as cruelly destructive of the morals 
 of individuals as it is ruinous to the interests of the 
 Company.' 
 
 An increase of salaries having been disallowed, Clive 
 was compelled to devise another means of meeting the 
 evil. The plan which he adopted was to place the 
 management of the public and private trade in Bengal 
 under the control of the Government. The chief branch 
 of this trade was salt. Clive established a society to 
 
164. BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 conduct the traffic in salt on the principle of a 
 monopoly, the profits of which, after reserving ten 
 lakhs a year for the Company, were to be divided 
 among the servants of the Company according to 
 their rank. The members of the Council and the 
 Colonels in the army received respectively 70,000 
 rupees a year, and the subordinate officers, civil and 
 military, in proportion. This scheme, like its pre- 
 decessor, was disallowed by the Court after two 
 years' trial, and then matters relapsed into their pre- 
 vious position. 
 
 On the occasion of one of Clive's visits to Mur- 
 shidabad in 1766, he was informed that Mir Jafar had 
 left him by his will five lakhs of rupees, valued at 
 that time, together with interest, at between j^6o,ooo 
 and £'jo,ooo. This sum he resolved to invest in a 
 fund for the relief of the English officers and men 
 of the East India Company's army. The arrange- 
 ment was subsequently carried out with the sanction 
 of the Court of Directors, and the fund was supple- 
 mented from the Indian treasury. It remained in 
 operation until 1858, when, the East India Company 
 having ceased to exist as a governing body, the fund 
 was reclaimed by Clive's heirs-at-law. The objects, 
 however, for which the fund had been constituted 
 were not lost sight of. After the government of 
 India was taken over by the Crown, the Secretary or 
 State for India in Council decided to continue from 
 the revenues of India the pensions which had been 
 
LORD CLIVE 165 
 
 paid up to that time out of dive's fund. Those 
 pensions are still paid, and are still called the Clive 
 Fund Pensions. 
 
 / About this time Clive was confronted by grave 
 discontent in the civil service. Many of the senior 
 civilians had perished in the massacre at Patna. Some 
 of the juniors had in consequence been appointed to 
 posts for which, owing to their youth and inexperi- 
 ence, they were unfit. Official secrets were divulged, 
 and in other ways the public service suffered. In 
 these circumstances Clive brought up from Madras 
 four civil servants belonging to that establishment, 
 and gave them vacant seats in the Bengal Council. 
 What followed is described by Clive in a despatch 
 to the Court of Directors, dated 31st January 1766, 
 of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 ' We are sorry to find that our endeavours to serve 
 the Company, in a manner the least injurious to your 
 servants here, should be misconstrued. As soon as 
 this measure became known by reports from Madras, 
 and previous to our laying any proceedings before 
 the Board, the young gentlemen of the settlement 
 had set themselves up for judges of the propriety of 
 our conduct and the degree of their own merit. 
 Each would think himself qualified to transact your 
 weighty afiairs in Council, at an age when the laws 
 of his country adjudged him unfit to manage his own 
 concerns to the extent of forty shillings. They had 
 not only set their hands to the memorial of complaint. 
 
i66 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 but entered into associations unbecoming at their 
 years, and destructive of that subordination without 
 which no government can stand. All visits to the 
 President are forbidden. All invitations from him 
 and the members of the Select Committee are to 
 be sHghted. The gentlemen called down by our 
 authority from Madras are to be treated with neglect 
 and contempt. Every man who deviates from this 
 confederacy is to be stigmatised and avoided. In a 
 word, the members are totally to separate themselves 
 from the head, decorum and union are to be set 
 at defiance, and it becomes a fair struggle whether 
 we or the young gentlemen shall in future guide the 
 helm of government. Look at their names, examine 
 their standing, inquire into their services, and reflect 
 upon the age of four-fifths of the subscribers to this 
 bill of grievances, who now support the association, 
 and you will be equally surprised with us at the pre- 
 sumptuous intemperance of youth, and convinced that 
 a stop of three or four years in the course of promo- 
 tion is indispensably necessary if you would have 
 your Council composed of men of experience and 
 discretion. 
 
 ' From this sketch of the behaviour of your servants, 
 you will perceive the dangerous pitch to which the 
 independence and licentious spirit of this settlement 
 hath risen ; you will then determine on the necessity 
 and propriety of the step we have taken. In the 
 meantime, we are resolved to support it, or we must 
 
LORD CLIVE . 167 
 
 submit to the anarchy and confusion consequent on 
 subjecting the decrees of your Select Committee to 
 the revisal and repeal of young gentlemen just broke 
 loose from the hands of their schoolmasters.' /' 
 
 Not long after the mutiny in the civil service had 
 been suppressed, a difficulty arose with the army, 
 which, in the hands of a less resolute man, might 
 have been attended with the gravest consequences. 
 We have seen how low in those days was the standard 
 of official morality in the civil service. It cannot be 
 said that a higher standard prevailed in the military 
 service. In both cases the abuses which obtainedN 
 were largely due to the failure of the Court of 
 Directors to recognise the absolute necessity of 
 granting adequate official remuneration in order to 
 secure honest service. In both services it was im- 
 possible for the members to live upon their pay. In/ 
 both the practice of engaging in trade, and of accept- 
 ing presents from natives, had been tacitly sanctioned 
 by the home authorities. In the earlier days of the 
 Indian army, the officers in the three Presidencies 
 drew a fixed rate of pay when in garrison or in the 
 Presidency town, and when in the field an additional 
 sum which was called Hatta.' After Plassey, Mir 
 Jafar, at the instance of Clive, had granted the officers 
 of the Bengal army a further sum equal to the batta^ 
 which was called double batta. This was still con- 
 tinued, although the Court of Directors had sent out 
 repeated orders for its discontinuance. There can be 
 
i68 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 no question that after the private trade and the 
 acceptance of presents had been interdicted, it would 
 have been impossible for the officers, either civil or 
 military, to maintain their position writhout either an 
 increase of pay or some other equivalent advantage. 
 That equivalent had been for the time provided by 
 Clive's establishment of a salt monopoly, and conse- 
 quently there w^as no justification for the failure of 
 Vansittart's and Spencer's governments to enforce 
 the orders of the Court regarding the double batta. 
 I This wfas doubtless Clive's viewr, and in September 
 1765, he notified that on the ist January 1756 
 the double batta wrould cease. Thereupon at 
 once arose a conspiracy to prevent the order from 
 being carried out. The success of the conspiracy 
 was at the outset promoted, rather than hindered, 
 by an important improvement in the organisation of 
 the Bengal army which had just been made. Up 
 to this time there had been no proper regimental or 
 brigade organisation. Clive, when in England, had 
 pressed the point upon the Court, who had given their 
 approval to the main features of the scheme suggested 
 by him for increasing the , number of European 
 officers and soldiers, and grading them in regiments 
 and brigades. This organisation had been just com- 
 pleted when the notification of the stoppage of double 
 batta appeared. The Bengal army had been divided 
 into three brigades, commanded respectively by Colonel 
 Sir Robert Fletcher, Colonel Richard Smith, and 
 
LORD CLIVE 169 
 
 Colonel Sir Robert Barker, The form which the ^ 
 conspiracy took, was that the officers concerned in it, 
 some 200 in number, agreed to resign their commis- 
 sions simultaneously on a given day, in the hope of 
 thereby compelling the Government to withdraw their 
 obnoxious orders. At the head of the conspiracy, 
 although at first professing to discredit the fact of its 
 existence, and then, when it could no longer be 
 ignored, to condemn it, was Sir Robert Fletcher, 
 the officer commanding the first brigade. 
 
 The conduct of this officer, when it came to be 
 investigated, was proved to have been extremely dis- 
 creditable. He had played a double game throughout. 
 He had in his heart sympathised with the disaffected 
 officers, and had, in fact, instigated some of them to 
 join the combination. He had indeed been the soul 
 of the conspiracy. He had posed as the champion 
 of law and order at the very time that he was 
 encouraging his brother officers to resign their 
 commissions. He had endeavoured in the first in- 
 stance to deceive Clive, but Clive had penetrated 
 his treachery. He was tried by court-martial, and 
 was clearly convicted of having concealed the plot 
 for four months, and was thereupon dismissed from 
 the service. 
 
 All this time the Mahrattas were threatening an 
 invasion of Bengal, and there can be no doubt that the 
 situation was extremely serious j but Clive's firmness 
 prevailed. Officers were brought up from Madras. 
 
lyo BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Clive offered commissions to mercantile men, but 
 only three accepted them. Indeed, there is reason to 
 believe that there was much sympathy, not only on 
 the part of civil servants, but on the part of many 
 mercantile men, w^ith the grievances of the military 
 officers. The Sepoys, howrever, stood by Clive, as 
 did some of the principal British military officers, 
 including the officers commanding the second and 
 third brigades. Several of the ringleaders were tried 
 and cashiered. The rest were allowed to withdraw 
 their resignations, and discipline was restored. The 
 threatened Mahratta invasion passed away. 
 
 There was no part of Clive's career in which his 
 resolute courage shone more brilliantly than it did on 
 this occasion. Had there been the slightest faltering 
 on his part, the whole power of the State must have 
 been delivered into the hands of the army. Few men 
 in history, placed in circumstances so grave, have 
 acted with a judgment so sound and with a- decision 
 so consummate. Not one of Clive's other achieve- 
 ments have surpassed, in the courage which he 
 evinced, and in the genius which he displayed, his 
 suppression of this mutiny. Even if it had stood 
 alone, it would have marked him as a true leader of 
 men. / 
 
 A remarkable incident connected with this mutiny, 
 and very characteristic of the times, was the subse- 
 quent story of the recreant Brigadier, Sir Robert 
 Fletcher. One would have thought that an officer 
 
LORD CLIVE 171 
 
 of his rank, who had taken the part which he had 
 borne in the mutiny, after having been dismissed 
 from the army, would not have been readmitted 
 into the military service in any circumstances what- 
 ever ; but, bad as his conduct had been, he had 
 sufficient interest after his return to England to 
 procure his reinstatement in the army, and was 
 subsequently appointed to the high office of Com- 
 mander-in-Chief at Madras.' Here he again showed 
 the cloven foot. Unable apparently to abstain for 
 any length of time from intrigue, he took a prominent 
 part in the dispute which in 1775 ended in the forcible 
 supersession and imprisonment of the Governor of 
 Madras, Lord Pigot, by the members of his Council. 
 Fletcher eventually died at Mauritius, where he had 
 gone on sick leave. 
 
 Clive's last administration was drawing to a close 
 when the mutiny of the officers took place. The Court 
 of Directors, although differing from Clive's views on 
 certain points, and some of them points of great import- 
 ance, had fo rmed an opinion of his last administration 
 not less high than that which they entertained of his 
 previous government of Bengal. In 1765 he had 
 
 ^ It appears that even Clive's friend, Grenville, urged Clive after his 
 return to England not to oppose the reinstatement of Sir Robert Fletcher 
 in the army. What course Clive took does not appear, but it is clear 
 from what he said. In his defence before the House of Commons, of the 
 Court of Directors having restored to the service almost every civil and 
 military transgressor vtho had been dismissed, that he cannot have ap- 
 proved of Fletcher's reinstatement. 
 
1/2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 intimated his intention of resigning the government 
 as soon as he could do so without prejudice to the 
 public interests. In a despatch dated March 1766, 
 the Court urged him to reconsider this decision. In 
 doing so they paid a very high tribute to ' the pene- 
 tration which had at once discerned the true interests 
 of the Company in every branch ' of the public service, 
 'to the rapidity with which he had restored peace, 
 order and tranquillity,' to the unbiassed integrity which 
 had governed all his actions, and to the great import- 
 ance of his remaining in India for another year. But 
 ,j Clive's health had suffered much from the exposure 
 ; and labour he had gone through. When the despatch 
 reached India he was very seriously ill, and any pro- 
 longation of his stay would have been at the risk of 
 his life. Moreover, he had already accomplished most 
 of the objects for which the Court wished him to 
 remain. Some of the worst of the civil servants had 
 been got rid of. Although the Court had most 
 unwisely refused to sanction the increase of salaries 
 which Clive had advocated, for reasons the weight 
 of which was incontestable, the temporary expedient 
 which had been adopted for improving the incomes 
 of the civil servants had met the immediate emer- 
 gency. The suppression of the officers' mutiny, and 
 the reorganisation of the "army in regiments, had 
 placed the military position upon a sound footing. 
 Mr Verelst, who, on the suspension of Mr Sumner, 
 had become the Governor-designate, had, it was 
 
LORD CLIVE 173 
 
 thought, proved his capacity, as had the members of 
 Council, Messrs Sykes and Cartier. 
 
 Nothing now remained for Clive before embarking ] 
 for England but to take leave of his colleagues. This 
 he did in a weighty minute which he laid before them 
 on the i6th January 1767, the last occasion on which 
 he attended the Council. The most important point 
 upon which he dwelt in this paper was the necessity 
 for not only promulgating, but for rigorously enforc- 
 ing, the orders of the Government. It had, he 
 observed, been ' too much the custom in this Govern- 
 ment to make orders and regulations, and then to 
 suppose the business done. To what end and purpose 
 are they made if they be not promulgated and en- 
 forced ? No regulation can be carried into execution, 
 no order obeyed, if you do not make rigorous examples 
 of the disobedient. Upon this point I rest the welfare 
 of the Company in Bengal. The servants are now 
 brought to a proper sense of their duties. If you 
 slacken the reins of government, affairs will soon 
 revert to their former channel. Anarchy and cor- 
 ruption will again prevail, and, elate with a new 
 victory, be too headstrong for any future efforts of 
 government. Recall to your memories the many 
 attempts that have been made in the civil and military 
 departments to overcome our authority and to set 
 up a kind of independency against the Court of 
 Directors. Reflect also on the resolute measures 
 we have pursued, and their wholesome effects. Dis- 
 
174 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 , obedience to legal power is the first step of sedition, 
 and palliative measures effect no cure. Every tender 
 compliance, every condescension on your parts, will 
 only encourage more flagrant attacks, and will daily 
 increase in strength, and be at last in vain resisted. 
 Much of our time has been employed in correcting 
 abuses. The important work has been prosecuted 
 with zeal, diligence and disinterestedness ; and we 
 have the happiness to see our labours crowned with 
 success. I leave the country in peace. I leave the 
 civil and military departments under discipline and 
 subordination. It is incumbent on you to keep them 
 so. You have power, you have abilities, you have 
 integrity. Let it not be said that you are deficient 
 
 I in resolution. I repeat that you must not fail to 
 exact the most implicit obedience to your orders. 
 Dismiss or suspend from your Service any man who 
 shall dare to dispute your authority. If you deviate 
 from the principles upon which you have hitherto 
 acted, and upon which you are conscious you ought to 
 proceed, or if you do not make a proper use of that 
 power with which you are invested, I shall hold myself 
 acquitted, as I do now protest, against the consequences.' 
 A week later he communicated to his colleagues a 
 supplemental minute embodying the following ob- 
 servations upon a point to which he had omitted to 
 advert in his previous paper : — ^,.^ 
 
 ' The people of this country,' he wrote, ' have little 
 
 or no idea of a divided power ; they imagine that all 
 
MAP OF INDIA IN 1767. 
 Showing British Possessions at that date. 
 
LORD CLIVE 175 
 
 authority is vested in one man. The Governor of 
 Bengal should aWays be looked upon by them in this 
 light, so far as is consistent with the honour of the 
 Committee and- the Council. In every vacant season, 
 therefore, I think it expedient that he take a tour up, 
 the country in the quality of a supervisor-general. 
 Frauds and oppressions of every sort being by this 
 means laid open to his viewr, will in a great measure 
 be prevented, and the natives will preserve a just 
 opinion of the importance and dignity of our Presi- 
 dent, upon whose character and conduct much of the 
 prosperity of the Company's affairs in Bengal must 
 ever depend.' 
 
 These were Clive's last official utterances in India. 
 They were worthy of the man who in less than 
 twenty-two months had reformed the civil service 
 and the army, had suppressed a dangerous mutiny, 
 had reduced the expenditure, had by a wise and 
 liberal economy nearly extinguished the Company's 
 debt in India, and had substituted British for native 
 rule over extensive and populous provinces. 
 
 If the Court of Directors, while justly according to 
 Clive's last administration the praise which it so well 
 deserved, had had the wisdom to adopt his recom- 
 mendations regarding salaries, many of the evils which 
 followed his departure might have been avoided ; 
 but in this, and in some other matters, the Court 
 would seem to have laboured under a sort of judicial 
 blindness, which was impervious to arguments, how- 
 
176 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ever cogent. Probably this was in a great measure 
 due to the personal hostility of Sullivan and of some 
 other members of the Court, and possibly in an even 
 larger measure to the inability of men brought up 
 to trade to realise their duties and the interests of 
 the public wrhen dealing with affairs of State. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CLIVE LEAVES INDIA FOR THE LAST TIME — HIS 
 RECEPTION BY THE COURT OF DIRECTORS — 
 
 THE QUESTION OF HIS JAGIR ABANDONMENT 
 
 OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE DISMISSED 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE BENGAL COUNCIL THE 
 
 SUBORDINATION OF THE MILITARY TO THE 
 
 CIVIL POWER UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION 
 
 OF BENGAL APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION OF 
 
 SUPERVISORS, WHO PERISHED AT SEA FAMINE 
 
 OF 1770 CARTIER SUCCEEDS VERELST, AND IS 
 
 SUCCEEDED BY WARREN HASTINGS CLIVE's 
 
 LETTER TO HASTINGS. 
 
 Clive embarked at Calcutta for England on the 
 29th January 1767. He had already announced the 
 arrangements for carrying on the administration 
 which were to take effect on his departure. Verelst 
 was to succeed him as Governor. The command of 
 the army, held by General Carnac, who sailed in the 
 same ship with Clive, was to devolve upon Colonel 
 Richard Smith. Sykes, Cartier and Beecher were to 
 be the members of Council. The duration of the 
 
 M 
 
178 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 voyage was not so prolonged as that of most of 
 Clive's voyages. He landed at Portsmouth on the 
 14th July, and reached London on the followring day. 
 His health vsras in some degree re-established, but vi^as 
 still very far from good. His labours and anxieties, 
 and the exposure he had undergone during his last 
 administration, had told severely upon him, and had 
 rendered essential a lengthened absence from public 
 business ; but this, partly owing to his own tempera- 
 ment, and partly owing to the course of events, he 
 was not destined to enjoy. He met with a cordial 
 greeting on his arrival in London. He was well re- 
 ceived by the King and Queen, and also by the Court 
 of Directors. The latter, as stated, had put up a statue 
 of him in the East India House, and also statues of 
 General Stringer Lawrence and of Admiral Pocock. 
 It is clear from his letters that he expected to receive 
 a British peerage ; but this expectation was never 
 fulfilled. Although, when CHve reached England, 
 Pitt, then Earl of Chatham, was in office, and still 
 retained his friendly feeling towards Clive, his state 
 of health was such that he was absolutely incapaci- 
 tated from public business. Clive's friends still 
 formed a majority in the Court of Directors ; but 
 that Court and the Court of Proprietors were at issue 
 on more than one important point, and the result 
 of the controversies which took place was not always 
 favourable to Clive. The acquisition of the Diwdni, 
 and the great improvement which had taken place 
 
LORD CLIVE 179 
 
 in the financial position of the Company in Bengal, 
 had led many of the proprietors of India stock to 
 consider that the dividend ought to be increased. 
 This was not the view of the Court of Directors, 
 nor was it that of the Government, although it seems 
 to have found some favour with Clive. Several of 
 the leading Directors, notwithstanding the prosperity 
 of Bengal affairs at that time, felt that the case was 
 far otherwise in Madras. There the Company were 
 engaged in hostilities with Hyder Ali, and the 
 situation was by no means satisfactory. It is also 
 possible that they were not free from misgivings as to 
 the continuance in Bengal of the state of things which 
 Clive had left behind him, and therefore deemed it 
 unsafe to place any further burden upon the Com- 
 pany's revenues. However, the proposed increase of 
 dividend, raising it to 12 J per cent., was carried, 
 although the Government interposed by a legislative 
 Act which reduced the maximum dividend to 10 per 
 cent. The action of the Company in this matter 
 encouraged the Government, who were at that time 
 in great financial straits, to exact from the Company 
 an annual subsidy of ^^400,000. To this impost Clive 
 was strongly opposed. He deemed it to be extor- 
 tionate, and condemned it in language which gave 
 considerable offence to some members of the Cabinet. 
 On another point which directly affected his 
 personal interests, Clive was led to entertain 
 hostile sentiments towards the Court of Directors 
 
i8o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 owing to the attitude of some of the members 
 regarding the Jagir which had been conferred upon 
 him by Mir Jafar. This Jagfr, as we have seen, had 
 formed a subject of controversy before Clive left 
 England in 1764. The Court at that time, under 
 the influence of Sullivan, had proposed to confiscate 
 the grant, and orders to that effect had been sent out 
 to India, but when shortly afterwards it was found 
 necessary again to take advantage of Clive's services 
 in Bengal, it was proposed to confirm his title to 
 the grant on a permanent footing. Subsequently) 
 at his own suggestion, it was settled that he should 
 retain the Jagi'r for a further period of ten years, 
 should he live so long, and that at the end of that 
 time, or upon his death at an earlier date, it 
 should revert to the Company. Shortly before 
 Clive's return, a proposal to prolong still further 
 his tenure of the Jaglr had been made, as a 
 suitable mode of rewarding his eminent services 
 during his last administration. The proposal was 
 to extend the grant for a further period of ten 
 years after the term then current should have 
 expired. This proposal had been carried in the 
 Court of Proprietors by a very large majority, but 
 in the Court of Directors there had been some 
 hesitation as to the amount of the grant. How- 
 ever, when Clive reached London, the Court of 
 Directors, having thanked him for his great ser- 
 vices, called a General Court, at which the previous 
 
LORD CLIVE i8i 
 
 resolution was unanimously passed. Still, the hesita- 
 tion which had been shown rankled for a long time 
 in Clive's mind, and materially affected his future 
 sentiments towards the Court of Directors. 
 
 The following are the terms in which he expressed 
 his opinion of them in a letter written not long after 
 his return : — 
 
 'With regard to the Directors, I tell you frankly 
 that no one can entertain a worse opinion of them 
 than I do. They have neither abilities nor resolution 
 to manage such important concerns as are now under 
 their care. Of this the world in general seems 
 very sensible ; and yet what to do I protest I know 
 not. An attempt to reform may throw matters into 
 greater confusion. 
 
 'You see my Jagfr is at last continued to me 
 and my representatives for ten years after the ex- 
 piration of my present right. I am more obliged 
 to the Proprietors for this grant than to the Direc- 
 tors, who threw a great deal of cold water upon it. 
 Indeed, their whole conduct towards me and my 
 associates in Committee has shown weakness or 
 something worse, for they have upon all occasions 
 endeavoured to lessen the acquisitions we have ob- 
 tained for them, and kept everything that might 
 contribute to our reputation as secret as possible, 
 and if Parliament had not brought our transactions 
 to light, mankind would have been ignorant of what 
 has been done. In short, they appear very envious 
 
1 82 BUir,DERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and jealous of my influence, and give ear to every 
 idle story of my being hostile tovrards them. Every- 
 thing looks as if v^e were not upon good terms. 
 They have even asked my opinion upon their affairs 
 in such a mean, sneaking manner that I have in- 
 formed one of them, unless I am applied to in form, 
 and unless more attention be paid to my advice, I 
 shall decline giving any vi'hatsoever. Thus matters 
 stand at present, but how long they may remain so 
 I know not, nor what changes may happen at the 
 next election.' 
 
 Those sentiments were not worthy of a man of 
 Clive's calibre. Their justice was not admitted by 
 some of his most strenuous friends, thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the facts of the case. Scrafton, a 
 man who had been closely connected with Clive 
 in India, had been present at Plassey, and was now 
 a member of the Court of Directors, did his best, 
 but without effect, to remove Clive's suspicions of 
 the hostility of various members of the Court. Very 
 probably the state of Clive's health, and the irrita- 
 bility which accompanied it, rendered him more sus- 
 picious than he otherwise would have been of the 
 loyalty of those upon whom he considered himself 
 entitled to rely. 
 
 Another incident, however, which took place about 
 the time of Clive's return, was far more calculated 
 to arouse and to justify his resentment. It was the 
 abandonment of proceedings against the members of 
 
LORD CLIVE 183 
 
 the Bengal Council who had been removed from 
 office at the instance of Clive. The Court of 
 Directors had resolved to bring these officials to 
 trial for having received presents from natives after 
 the order of the Court prohibiting the acceptance 
 of such presents had reached them. There w^as at 
 that time a very strong feeling among a large body 
 in the Court of Proprietors against those members 
 of the Court of Directors, most of them friends and 
 supporters of Clive, v^ho had opposed the increase 
 of the dividend. Advantage of this feeling was taken 
 by the inculpated officials to appeal to the Court of 
 Proprietors against the proposed prosecution, and the 
 appeal resulted in the prosecution being withdrawn. 
 This showed that public officials, however culpable 
 their conduct might have been, had only to amass 
 wealth, and by that means acquire interest in 
 England, in order to obtain condonation for their 
 misdeeds. 
 
 Clive was not one of those who had denounced 
 the increase of the dividend, and therefore was not 
 aimed at by the majority of the Proprietors who had 
 supported the withdrawal of the prosecutions ; but 
 the result of that measure was to him most serious, 
 for it encouraged his enemies to make the attacks 
 upon him, both in and out of Parliament, which 
 embittered the remainder of his life. 
 
 Early in the year after his return (1768), Clive, 
 by the advice of his physicians, went over to the 
 
1 84 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Continent, spending some time in Paris, and after- 
 wards visiting Lyons, Montpellier and Spa. He had 
 been urged to prolong his stay abroad, and to avoid 
 the rigour of the ensuing English wfinter ; but he 
 so greatly disliked the tedium of an idle life that 
 in August he returned to England. As regards 
 his future comfort and his health, the decision wras 
 unfortunate, for his stay in the South of France was 
 too short to effect the cure w^hich might have resulted 
 from a longer residence there ; but Clive's vv^as not 
 a temperament which could tolerate inactivity for any 
 length of time, and consequently he returned to London 
 and threw himself, heart and soul, into the various 
 public questions, mainly Indian questions, which were 
 then under discussion. 
 
 Clive had never for a day lost his interest in India. 
 He regarded that country as even then the greatest 
 of our dependencies, and spared no pains in impress- 
 ing upon his successors the views which he enter- 
 tained. With Verelst, who had succeeded him as 
 Governor of Bengal, he maintained an active corre- 
 spondence. He had a high opinion of Verelst's char- 
 acter and of his ability, but he evidently had doubts 
 as to his firmness. ' Your integrity,' he wrote to 
 Verelst, 'and goodness of your heart must be ac- 
 knowledged by all who know you, and it is with 
 pleasure I observe you have set out with a close 
 attention to other necessary and public qualifications. 
 Continue in the full exertion of that steadiness and 
 
LORD CLIVE 185 
 
 resolution with which you began your government. 
 Your judgment is sound. Set a just value, then, 
 upon every opinion of your own, and always enter- 
 tain a prudent degree of suspicion of the advice of 
 any man who can possibly be biassed by self-interested 
 motives. Before I touch upon particulars, permit me 
 to urge, in general, the necessity there is for you 
 and the whole Council and Committee to join in 
 holding the military under due subordination and 
 subjection.' 
 
 This question of maintaining the due subordina- 
 tion of the military to the civil power was one to 
 which Clive continued to attach the greatest im- 
 portance during the remainder of his life. The 
 conspiracy in which a large number of the British 
 officers in the Company's service had engaged dur- 
 ing the last year of Clive's stay in India had taught 
 him a lesson which he never forgot. To use Clive's 
 own words, 'the dangerous consequences which 
 may ensue from the least relaxation of command 
 over a body so numerous as the English officers 
 should ever be thought of with horror, and the good 
 effects of maintaining an inflexible authority cannot 
 be too often recollected in the instance of the late 
 association.' 
 
 Clive had always thought well of the military 
 capacity of Colonel Richard Smith, who on Carnac's 
 retirement had been placed in the chief military com- 
 mand in Bengal, but he had never liked him. He 
 
1 86 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 evidently regarded him as ambitious and aggressive, 
 and as a man against whom the civil Governor 
 should be constantly on his guard. In the letter 
 already quoted, Clive writes regarding Colonel Smith 
 in the following terms : — 
 
 ' I am glad to find that you are upon your guard 
 against the pride and ambition of the Colonel, who, 
 if there be any merit in the conduct of the military 
 officers, will certainly claim the whole to himself and 
 write the world to that purpose. His last, I should 
 say his first, dispute, whether the Governor or the 
 commanding officer of the troops ought to have the 
 title of Commander-in-Chief, was such an open and 
 audacious attack upon the dignity of your office that 
 I am surprised you let it pass unnoticed. Had a 
 minute been made of it, he would infallibly have been 
 dismissed the service.' This last remark would seem 
 to indicate a somewhat exaggerated view of the situa- 
 tion. Within a very few years the designation of 
 Commander - in - Chief had become the established 
 description of the officers commanding the troops in 
 each of the three Presidencies, and is now the re- 
 cognised title of the officer who, under the organisa- 
 tion established a few years ago, commands the whole 
 of the Indian Army. At the same time, allowance 
 must be made for the state of things which then 
 existed, as evidenced by the treatment of the Governor 
 of Madras a few years later, in which the officer com- 
 manding the troops took an active part. 
 
LORD CLIVE 187 
 
 These were the questions which principally occupied 
 Clive during the earlier months after his return from 
 India ; but other matters of greater importance shortly 
 afterwards came to the front. The state of affairs in 
 India rapidly became extremely unsatisfactory. The 
 two men who in succession followed Clive as Governors 
 of Bengal were neither of them strong men. In the 
 case of Verelst, we have seen, from the letter which 
 has been already quoted, that Clive had but little con- 
 fidence in his firmness, and from what subsequently 
 transpired, it would seem that Cartier was a decidedly 
 weak man. It is, however, only fair to say that 
 Verelst possessed some admirable qualifications as an 
 Indian Governor. He had served long in India, and 
 possessed a thorough knowledge of the people. He 
 had done good work as supervisor of the revenue 
 administration in the three districts ceded by Kdsim 
 Ali. Now, however, no adequate check was main- 
 tained over the expenditure. In Bengal, owing to 
 feeble and corrupt administration on the part of 
 the subordinate officers, the revenue diminished. In 
 Madras, the struggle with Hyder Ali involved heavy 
 expenditure, and was at one time extremely critical. 
 This state of things seriously affected the financial 
 position of the Company in England, which was 
 reduced to the greatest straits. The position was 
 intensified by a terrible famine which devastated 
 Bengal in 1770, when one-third of the population 
 was computed to have perished. 
 
1 88 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 In the latter part of the same year, Clive sustained 
 a heavy loss in the death of Mr George Grenville, 
 his chief friend and supporter in English political 
 life. This event was most disastrous for Clive ; 
 for Grenville had been for some years his most con- 
 sistent friend, and a very judicious adviser. Indeed, 
 it is not too much to say that had Grenville lived 
 a few years longer, his influence in Parliament 
 and with the Government would have averted 
 the attacks made upon Clive two years later, and 
 also the proceedings in the House of Commons, 
 which did so much to poison the latter years of 
 his life. 
 
 Meanwhile, in 1769, Sullivan and several of his 
 friends had been elected to the Direction. An 
 attempt was made to secure the reappointment 
 of Vansittart as Governor of Bengal, with the 
 authority of Governor-General. This Clive had 
 sufficient influence to prevent. Thereupon the 
 Court of Directors resolved to send out to Bengal 
 three Commissioners with very large powers, to in- 
 vestigate and reform Indian administration. Vansit- 
 tart was appointed a member of this Commission. 
 He and Clive had formerly been intimate friends, 
 and it was upon Clive's recommendation that 
 Vansittart had been appointed Governor of Bengal 
 in 1760 ; but partly in consequence of the removal 
 of Mir Jafar from the Nawdbship, which Clive 
 greatly resented, and partly in consequence of 
 
LORD CLIVE 189 
 
 Vansittart having joined the party of Sullivan, 
 their friendship had been turned into bitter hos- 
 tility. The two other members of the Commis- 
 sion were Scrafton and Forde, both staunch friends 
 of Clive ; but the Commission never reached its 
 destination, the frigate Aurora^ in which the mem- 
 bers sailed, foundering at sea between the Cape and 
 Calcutta. 
 
 It was then determined to appoint another Gov- 
 ernor, and Warren Hastings, at that time second 
 in Council at Madras, was selected for the office. 
 Warren Hastings had served under Clive during 
 his first government of Bengal. For some time 
 after Plassey he was agent to the Governor at 
 Murshidabad. There are letters still extant, many 
 of them in Clive's handwriting, and all of them 
 bearing Clive's autograph signature, which show 
 that CHve had many opportunities of judging of 
 Hastings's capacity, and, as has been said in an 
 earlier chapter of this book, it has always been a 
 matter of surprise that, when Clive was leaving 
 India in 1760, and the choice of his successor 
 was practically left to him, he should have pre- 
 ferred Vansittart to Hastings, and also to Watts. 
 Hastings had been a member of Vansittart's 
 Council at Calcutta from 1761 to the end of 
 1764, and had distinguished himself by the honesty 
 of his official conduct, as contrasted with the dis- 
 honourable course followed by the majority of the 
 
1 90 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Council at that time. After a residence in England 
 of five years, he was driven by poverty in 1769 
 to seek re-employment in India, and in that year 
 accepted the appointment of second in Council 
 at Madras. It seems that on that occasion he 
 received some support from Clive. He was serv- 
 ing at Madras when it became necessary to select 
 a new Governor of Bengal in succession to Carrier. 
 Sykes, who had been a member of the Select 
 Commitee sent out with CHve in 1764 — a very 
 honest and discerning man — had in 1768 pressed 
 the claims of Hastings upon Clive. Sykes's recom- 
 mendation, supported probably by others, was 
 doubtless renewed when the vacancy occurred in 
 Bengal in 1771, on which occasion Clive took an 
 active part in securing the appointment of Hast- 
 ings. The following letter, which Clive addressed 
 to Hastings after the appointment was made, 
 indicates the estimate which he had formed of 
 Hastings's capacity, and the impressions which had 
 led him at one time to doubt his fitness for the 
 post : — 
 
 'Berkeley SguARE, 1st August 1771. 
 
 'Dear Sir, — The despatch of the Lapwing gives 
 me an early opportunity of congratulating with 
 you on your removal to Bengal ; and as my zeal 
 for the service actuated me to take the share I 
 did in your appointment, the same principle pre- 
 
LORD CLIVE 191 
 
 vails upon me to offer you a few of my ideas upon 
 the important Government in which you now 
 preside. 
 
 'Two or three months ago, when the plan of 
 supervisors was renewed, Sir George Colebrook 
 and Mr Purling desired my opinion. My advice 
 was that, as the prosperity of the Company was 
 now become a matter of very serious national 
 concern, it behoved them to show that in appoint- 
 ments of this nature they were guided, not by 
 the views of particular friends, but merely by that 
 zeal which the duty of their station demanded for 
 preserving and rendering permanent our possessions 
 in India ; and that therefore they should turn their 
 thoughts towards men who stood high in public 
 character and reputation. I proposed Mr Wedder- 
 burn, Mr Cornwall and Sir Jeffrey Amherst, 
 together with you as Governor and one of the 
 Council : and that these five should be invested 
 with all the powers, civil and military. Sir Jeffrey 
 Amherst, however, declined. As to the two former, 
 however, they might be prevailed upon ; but the 
 Directors do not seem to embrace any great com- 
 prehensive plan of supervisorship, so as to make it 
 an object for men of such consequence. My last 
 proposition was that the Company should revert 
 to the plan of my Government, viz., that a Com- 
 mittee of five should be appointed out of the best 
 and ablest men in Bengal, of whom the Governor 
 
192 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 should be the head, and this, I imagine, will be 
 adopted. 
 
 'The situation of affairs requires that you should 
 be very circumspect and active. You are appointed 
 Governor at a very critical time, when things are 
 suspected to be almost at the worst, and when a 
 general apprehension prevails of the mismanagement 
 of the Company's affairs. The last Parliamentary 
 enquiry has thrown the whole state of India before 
 the public, and every man sees clearly that, as matters 
 are now conducted abroad, the Company will not 
 long be able to pay the ^400,000 to Government. 
 The late dreadful famine, or a war, either with Sujah 
 ud Daulah or the Mahrattas, will plunge us into still 
 deeper distress. A discontented nation and disap- 
 pointed Ministers will then call to account a weak 
 and pusillanimous Court of Directors, who will turn 
 the blow from themselves upon their agents abroad, 
 and the consequences must be ruin both to the 
 Company and the servants. In this situation you 
 see the necessity of exerting yourself in time, pro- 
 vided the Directors give you proper powers, without 
 which I confess you can do nothing ; for self- 
 interest or ignorance will obstruct every plan you 
 can form for the public good. 
 
 ' You are upon the spot, and will learn my con- 
 duct from disinterested persons ; and I wish your 
 Government to be attended, as mine was, with 
 success to the Company, and with the conscious- 
 
LORD CLIVE 193 
 
 ness of having discharged every duty with firmness 
 and fidelity. Be impartial and just to the public, 
 regardless of the interests of individuals vs^here the 
 honour of the nation and the real advantage of the 
 Company are at stake, and resolute in carrying into 
 execution your determinations, which, I hope, will 
 at all times be rather founded upon your own 
 opinion than that of others. 
 
 ' The business of politics and finance being so 
 extensive, the Committee should not be embarrassed 
 with private concerns. They ought not, therefore, 
 to be allowed to trade. But their emoluments 
 ought to be so large as to render trade unnecessary 
 to the attainment of a competent fortune. For this 
 purpose I am confident the salt will prove very 
 suificient. The society should be formed upon an 
 improvement of a plan which was not perfected 
 in my time. The price to the natives was too 
 great, and so was the advantage to the servants. 
 Reduce both, and I am persuaded there will be no 
 complaint of oppression on the one hand, or want 
 of emolument on the other. 
 
 ' The Company's servants should all have a sub- 
 sistence, but every idea of raising a fortune, till they 
 are entitled to it by some years' service, ought to be 
 suppressed. If a general system of economy could 
 be introduced, it would be happy for individuals, 
 as well as for the public. The expenses of the 
 Company in Bejigal are hardly to be supported. 
 
19+ BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Great savings, I am certain, may be made. Bills for 
 fortifications, cantonments, contracts, etc., must be 
 abolished, together with every extravagant charge 
 for travelling, diet, parade and pomp of subordinates. 
 In short, by economy alone the Company may yet 
 preserve its credit and affluence. 
 
 ' With regard to political measures, they are to 
 be taken according to the occasion. When danger 
 arises, every precaution must be made use of, but 
 at the same time you must be prepared to meet and 
 encounter it. This you must do with cheerfulness 
 and confidence, never entertaining a thought of 
 miscarrying till the misfortune actually happens ; and 
 even then you are not to despair, but be constantly 
 contriving and carrying into execution schemes for 
 retrieving affairs ; always flattering yourself with 
 an opinion that time and perseverance will get the 
 better of everything. 
 
 ' From the little knowledge I have of you, I am 
 convinced that you have not only abilities and 
 personal resolution, but integrity and moderation 
 with regard to riches ; but I thought I discovered 
 in you a diffidence in your own judgment, and too 
 great an easiness of disposition, which may subject 
 you insensibly to be led where you ought to guide. 
 Another evil which may arise from it is, that you may 
 pay too great an attention to the reports of the 
 natives, and be inclined to look upon things in the 
 worst instead of the best light. A proper confidence 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 195 
 
 in yourself, and never-failing hope of success, will be 
 a bar to this and every other ill that your situation 
 is liable to ; and as I am sure that you are not 
 wanting in abilities for the great office of Governor, 
 I must add that an opportunity is now given you 
 of making yourself one of the most distinguished 
 characters of this country. 
 
 ' I perceive I have been very free in delivering my 
 sentiments ; but to make an apology were to con- 
 tradict the opinion I profess to have of your under- 
 standing, and to doubt whether you would receive this 
 as a token of my esteem. 
 
 'It is perhaps unnecessary to add that this letter, 
 which I have written in the fullest confidence, 
 should be kept entirely to yourself. If a reciprocal 
 communication of our sentiments on India affairs 
 be agreeable to you, you may depend upon my 
 continuing the correspondence in such manner as 
 to show that I am with the sincerest wishes for your 
 honour and success, dear sir, your very faithful 
 humble servant, Clive.' 
 
 This letter is interesting, as containing a free 
 expression of Clive's views on the then situation in 
 India, and his estimate of the great man to whom 
 it was addressed ; but subsequent events speedily 
 showed that Clive was entirely mistaken in supposing 
 Hastings to be deficient in resolution. The two 
 men differed in many respects. Their training had 
 
196 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 been different, but in the important quality of courage 
 under difficulties, of the ' mens aqua in arduis^ it is 
 hard to choose between them ; indeed, if we consider 
 the difficulties with which Hastings had to contend 
 during his long service as Governor of Bengal, and 
 subsequently as Governor-General of India, and after- 
 wards during his seven years' impeachment before 
 Parliament, and when we remember the sad ending 
 of Clive's life, we feel almost constrained to award 
 the palm to Hastings. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ATTACKS UPON CLIVE IN THE PRESS PROCEEDINGS 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS PRACTICAL 
 
 ACQUITTAL OF CLIVE THE COMMITTEE OF 
 
 SECRECY AND ITS RESULTS THE REGULATING 
 
 ACT OF 1773 ^THE STRAIN UPON CLIVE — HIS 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 Up to this time Clive had maintained a somewhat 
 isolated position in Parliament, having joined none 
 of the great parties in the State, and it was feared 
 by his enemies, not unnaturally, that if he now 
 threw in his lot with the Ministers of the Crown, 
 the difficulties of their task would be seriously 
 increased. 
 
 When the letter to Hastings was written, and for 
 some time previously, Clive's enemies in the Court 
 of Directors and in the Court of Proprietors, v/ith 
 Sullivan at their head, were busily engaged in pre- 
 paring an attack upon him in Parliament. About 
 the same time Clive had conferences on the state 
 of affairs in India with Lord North, then Prime 
 Minister, and with the Secretary of State, Lord 
 Rochford. These conferences would seem to 
 197 
 
198 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 have precipitated the crisis ; but the events wrhich 
 followed did not take the precise slupe w^hich Clive 
 had, or could have, anticipated. / His discussions 
 writh Ministers had not prepared him for any hos- 
 tile action on their .part, nor does it appear that 
 anything of the sort w^as at that time intended. 
 When Parliament met on the 22d January 1772, 
 the speech from the throne announced that it was 
 proposed to introduce a measure to provide new 
 laws ' for supplying defects or remedying abuses ' in 
 the administration of India ; but Clive had no reason 
 to suppose that the new laws referred to any other 
 reforms than those which he had himself advocated. 
 Shortly afterwards, however, Sullivan, who was at 
 that time deputy-chairman of the Court of Directors, 
 and also a member of the House of Commons, gave 
 notice of a motion to introduce a Bill ' for the better 
 regulation of the affairs of the East India Company 
 and of their servants in India, and for the adminis- 
 tration of justice in Bengal.' 
 
 Several of the measures provided for in this Bill 
 were measures which Clive had repeatedly advocated ; 
 but when, on the 30th March, the debate came on, 
 Sullivan's speech introducing the Bill, although he 
 did not mention Clive's name, was practically an 
 indictment of Clive. 
 
 For some time previously the newspapers had 
 teemed with attacks upon him. Both in the 
 Indian civil service and in the army he had made 
 
LORD CLIVE 199 
 
 enemies during his last administration by his stern 
 repression of abuses and inflexible enforcement of 
 orders. The leaders in the very formidable mutiny 
 of the British officers of the Bengal army, with 
 which Clive had dealt so effectively during the 
 last year of his government, and the members of 
 Council whom in the previous year he had dis- 
 missed or suspended for their violation of the orders 
 of the Court in regard to the acceptance of presents 
 from natives, did their best to stimulate the attacks 
 upon him. The very crimes which he had incurred 
 the odium of repressing were laid to his charge. 
 The unsatisfactory condition of the Company's 
 affairs after his departure from India, attributable 
 in a great measure to the errors of his successors, 
 was ascribed to him. 
 
 Stung to the quick by the onslaught made upon 
 him, and by the ingratitude of the authorities who 
 ought to have come forward in his defence, Clive 
 took advantage of the debate raised by Sullivan 
 to reply to his assailants, and in a speech of re- 
 markable eloquence and vigour, in regard to which 
 Lord Chatham ^ said that he had never listened to 
 a finer speech, demolished the accusations which 
 had been made against him. 
 
 This speech, which occupies thirty-four columns 
 of Almon's Parliamentary History,^ is too long to 
 
 I The Earl of Chatham was present in the House of Commons under 
 the gallery when the speech was made. 
 
 ' Revised and published by T. C. Hansard in 1813. 
 
200 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 reproduce in the text of this memoir, but it will 
 be found printed at length as an Appendix.' In it 
 Clive went fully into the charges v/hich had been 
 made against him. He reminded the House how, 
 in 1764, when the affairs of Bengal and of the 
 Company were in a dangerous and critical situation, 
 he had been sent out to put them straight, how 
 the Court of Directors at that time had not treated 
 him with the consideration to which he was entitled, 
 but had grudged him the necessary powers, while 
 those they gave him had been so loosely worded 
 that when he reached Calcutta they were contested 
 by the Council, and he was compelled to place a 
 broad construction upon them in order to secure 
 the objects with which they had been given. 
 Three paths, he said, were before him. One ' was 
 strewed with abundance- of fair advantages.' He 
 might have put himself at the head of the Govern- 
 ment as he found it. He might have encouraged 
 the resolution that the Council had taken, not to 
 execute the new covenants which prohibited the 
 receipt of presents, and he might, notwithstanding 
 that he had signed the covenant himself, have in- 
 creased his wealth by unjustifiable means. 
 
 Or he might, finding his powers disputed, have 
 left Bengal without making an effort to save it. 
 
 The third path was intricate, but he resolved to 
 pursue it. He determined to do his duty, although 
 
 ^ Appendix I. 
 
LORD CLIVE 20I 
 
 he incurred the odium of the whole settlement. He 
 took the resolution 'of cleansing the Augean stable.' 
 ' It was that conduct,' he said, ' which has occasioned 
 the public papers to teem with scurrility and abuse 
 against me, ever since my return to England. It 
 was that conduct which occasioned these charges. 
 But it was that conduct which enables me now, 
 when the day of judgment is come, to look my 
 judges in the face. It was that conduct which 
 enables me now to lay my hand upon my heart, 
 and most solemnly to declare to this House, to the 
 gallery and to the whole world at large, that I 
 never in a single instance lost sight of what I 
 thought the honour and true interest of my 
 country and the Company ; that I was never 
 guilty of any acts of violence or oppression, unless 
 the bringing of offenders to justice can be deemed 
 so ; that as to extortion, such an idea never entered 
 into my mind ; that I did not suffer those under 
 me to permit any acts of violence, oppression or 
 extortion ; that my influence was never employed 
 for the advantage of any man, contrary to the 
 strictest principles of honour and justice ; and that, 
 so far from reaping any benefit myself from the 
 expedition, I returned to England many thousand 
 pounds out of pocket — a fact of which this House 
 will presently be convinced." 
 
 'It is evident that Clive here refers to his last government of 
 Bengal. 
 
202 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Clive then proceeded to deal in detail with the 
 charges contained in the papers sent to him by the 
 Court of Directors. They referred to monopolies 
 which had been established by the Government of 
 Bengal in cotton and diamonds, and also in salt, 
 betel and tobacco. As to cotton, he averred that 
 he knew no more about it than the Pope of 
 Rome. Trade was not his profession. As to the 
 establishment of a gold coinage, it was a subject 
 of which he had no personal knowledge. It was 
 very much out of his sphere. The object of the 
 Select Committee was, by establishing a gold 
 coinage, to obviate the evils resulting from the 
 drain of silver to China and other places. He had 
 never sent a single rupee or gold mohur to be 
 coined in his life. It was alleged that the 
 monopolies in salt, betel nut and tobacco, and other 
 commodities, had occasioned the late famine in 
 Bengal. To this Clive replied that he could not 
 understand how a monopoly of salt, betel and 
 tobacco in the years 1765 and 1766 could occasion 
 a want of rain and scarcity of rice in 1 770. He 
 went into the question of the inland trade, and 
 showed how completely his action in regard to it 
 had been in accordance with the orders of the 
 Court. As to the tax upon salt, he remarked that 
 the Select Committee had established the plan 
 which had been adopted, ' upon experience and 
 a thorough knowledge of the Company's interest,' 
 
LORD CLIVE 203 
 
 while the conduct of the Court of Directors in 
 abolishing it was 'founded upon obstinacy and 
 ignorance.' 
 
 The attack upon this occasion was directed 
 almost entirely against Clive's last administration, 
 and as there was no fault to be found with that 
 administration, but on the contrary it had been 
 signalised by services of the highest merit, the 
 attack in all probability would have failed, had not 
 Clive taken advantage of the occasion to denounce 
 the mal-administration both of His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment and of the Court of Directors. His denuncia- 
 tion of these bodies, and especially of the Government, 
 was an error in tact which was largely, if not en- 
 tirely, responsible for the issue of the debate. As one 
 of Clive's biographers has told us,' it was remarked 
 by his best friends on this occasion that ' he had never 
 spoken with greater eloquence, or with more evil 
 tendency as regarded himself.' He denounced the 
 policy, or rather the want of policy, of the Govern- 
 ment as deficient in courage and in foresight, while 
 at the same time their treatment of the Company 
 was grasping and unfair. 'The Company,' he said, 
 ' had acquired an empire more extensive than any 
 kingdom in Europe, France and Russia excepted. 
 They had acquired a revenue of four millions 
 sterling, and a trade in proportion. It was natural 
 to suppose that such an object would have merited 
 
 ' Gleig's Life of Lord Clive, p. 295. 
 
204 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the most serious attention of Administration ; ' that 
 in concert with the Court of Directors, they would 
 have considered the nature of the Company's charter, 
 and have adopted a plan adequate to such possessions. 
 Did they take it into consideration ? No, they did 
 not. They treated it rather as a South Sea bubble 
 than as anything solid and substantial ; they thought 
 of nothing but the present time, regardless of the 
 future. They said, " Let us get what we can to- 
 day, let to-morrow take care of itself;" they 
 thought of nothing but the immediate division of 
 the loaves and fishes ; nay, so anxious were they 
 to lay their hands upon some immediate advantage, 
 that they actually went so far as to influence a 
 parcel of temporary proprietors to bully the 
 Directors into their terms. It was their duty. 
 Sir, to have called upon the Directors for a plan ; 
 and if a plan in consequence had not been laid 
 before them, it would then have become their 
 duty, with the aid and assistance of Parliament, 
 to have formed one themselves. If Administration 
 had done their duty, we should not now have 
 heard a speech from the Throne intimating the 
 necessity of Parliamentary interposition to save our 
 possessions in India from impending ruin.' 
 
 Not less emphatic was Clive's condemnation of the 
 
 ^ The word * Administration * seems to have been constantly used in 
 those days where we should now use the word ' Government.' It was 
 frequently used in this sense by Clive, and also by Edmund Burke. 
 
LORD CLIVE 205 
 
 Court of Directors. He especially denounced their 
 recent action in yielding to the Court of Proprietors, 
 and abandoning the prosecutions of the officials who 
 had been dismissed or suspended for having- violated 
 the orders of the Court against the acceptance of 
 presents. He said that by dropping these prosecutions 
 the Directors ' gave a stab to their own vitals. From 
 that instant they destroyed their own power abroad, 
 and erased from the minds of their servants in India 
 every wholesome regulation which the Committee 
 had established. The servants abroad were in anxious 
 suspense to learn whether they were punishable, or 
 not, for misconduct. The lenity or weakness of the 
 Court of Directors confirmed their doubts. From that 
 instant all covenants were forgotten, or only looked 
 upon as so many sheets of blank paper, and from that 
 instant began that relaxation of government so much 
 now complained of, and so much still to be dreaded.' 
 
 The Court of Proprietors and the General Courts, 
 at which the Court of Directors and the Court of 
 Proprietors sat together, received no mercy from him. 
 Their violent proceedings, he alleged, had subverted 
 the authority of the Directors, which was further 
 weakened by the system of annual contested elections 
 for the Direction. 
 
 Clive was answered in a violent, but by no means 
 convincing, speech by Governor Johnston, a brother 
 of the Mr Johnston who had led the opposition to 
 Clive in the Bengal Council. The motion for the 
 
zo6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 introduction of the Bill was passed without a division, 
 and on the 13th April it was laid on the table, but 
 it never took its place on the Statute-book ; for after 
 the second reading, another member, Colonel Burgoyne, 
 apparently in concert with Sullivan, moved for the 
 appointment of a select Committee ' to inquire into 
 the nature, state and condition of the East India 
 Company, and of the British affairs in the East Indies.' 
 This motion was also carried without a division, 
 though not without considerable discussion, Edmund 
 Burke, among other members, protesting warmly 
 against the proposed inquiry. The Select Committee 
 was composed of thirty-one members. It included 
 Clive and his former Secretary, Mr Henry Strachey, 
 but it was mainly composed of members hostile to 
 Clive. /it speedily became apparent that the inten- 
 tion was to place Clive upon his trial. He was 
 closely cross-examined as to the events of 1757 before 
 and after Plassey, including the episode of Omichand 
 and the presents received by him from Mir Jafar. 
 He was questioned not only as to his acts, but as 
 to his motives ; but he bore himself with unfailing 
 firmness. He admitted and justified everything he 
 had done. When questioned as to the fraud played 
 upon Omichand, and as to his having forged Admiral 
 Watson's signature, he boldly avowed both these 
 incidents, and said that in the same circumstances he 
 would do the same things over again. He frankly 
 admitted the receipt of enormous presents from Mfr 
 
LORD CLIVE Z07 
 
 Jafar ; but contended that as the law stood he was 
 not debarred by any consideration, either of honour 
 or of duty, from receiving them. Addressing the 
 chairman at the close of a long cross-examination, 
 he exclaimed : ' Am I not rather deserving of praise 
 for the moderation which marked my proceedings ? 
 Consider the situation in which the victory at 
 Plassey had placed me. A great prince was depend- 
 ent on my pleasure ; an opulent city lay at my 
 mercy ; its richest bankers bid against each other 
 for my smiles ; I walked through vaults which were 
 thrown open to me alone, piled on either hand with 
 gold and jewels ! Mr Chairman, at this moment I 
 stand astonished at my own moderation ! ' ^ 
 
 In the course of a few weeks the Select Committee 
 issued two reports, which were at once printed and 
 circulated broadcast through the country, Clive's 
 enemies hoping thereby to prejudice the public mind 
 against him. The result was not exactly what they 
 anticipated, for while the lower classes generally 
 accepted their views, the more intelligent members 
 of the community could not help admiring the 
 straightforward courage with which Clive met the 
 charges, the" frankness of his admissions, and the 
 manliness and dignity of his bearing. 
 
 The King took an early opportunity of manifest- 
 ing his favourable sentiments towards Clive. Three 
 weeks after the reports of the Select Committee had 
 been laid on the table of the House of Commons, 
 
2o8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Clive was invested with the Order of the Bath. In 
 the course of the year he was appointed Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant of Shropshire, the county to which he belonged, 
 and also of Montgomeryshire. But his enemies were 
 not prepared to desist from their attacks upon him 
 without a further struggle. At the opening of the 
 session of 1773, the Select Committee resumed its 
 inquiries, and on the loth May, Colonel Burgoyne 
 moved the following resolutions : — 
 
 1st. That all acquisitions made under the influence 
 of a military force, or by treaty with foreign princes, 
 did of right belong to the State. 
 
 2d. That to appropriate acquisitions so made, to 
 the private emolument of persons entrusted with any 
 civil or military pov/er of the State, is illegal. 
 
 3d. That very great sums of money, and other 
 valuable property, had been acquired in Bengal from 
 princes and others of that country by persons en- 
 trusted with the civil and military powers of the State 
 by means of such powers, which sums of money and 
 valuable property have been appropriated to the 
 private use of such persons. 
 
 These resolutions were obviously directed against 
 Clive, but in order that there might be no doubt upon 
 the subject, Burgoyne, when moving them, made a 
 direct and violent attack upon Clive, and intimated 
 that, in the event of the resolutions being passed, he 
 should follow them up by moving : ' That persons who 
 had acquired sums of money by presents or otherwise 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 209 
 
 in India, if they had acquired such sums by virtue of 
 their acting in a public capacity, should be forced to 
 malce restitution.' 
 
 The resolutions were all carried, the Prime Minister 
 and the Attorney-General (Thurlow) voting for 
 them, while the Solicitor - General (Wedderburn) 
 voted and made a forcible speech against them. A 
 few days later Burgoyne moved the further re- 
 solution of which he had given notice. It was in 
 these words : — 
 
 ' That it appears to this House that Robert Lord 
 Clive, Baron of Plassey in the Kingdom of Ireland, 
 about the time of the deposing of Suraj ud Daulah, 
 Nawdb of Bengal, and the establishing of Mfr Jafar 
 on the Masnad, did, through the influence of the 
 powers with which he was entrusted as a member 
 of the Select Committee and Commander-in-Chief 
 of the British forces, obtain and possess himself of 
 two lakhs and 80,000 rupees, as member of the Select 
 Committee ; a further sum of two lakhs of rupees as 
 Commander-in-Chief; and a further sum of sixteen 
 lakhs of rupees or more under the denomination of 
 private donation ; which sums, amounting together to 
 twenty lakhs and 80,000 rupees, were of the value, 
 in English money, of j^234,000 ; and that in so 
 doing the said Robert Lord Clive abused the powers 
 with which he was entrusted, to the evil example of 
 the servants of the public' 
 
 The motion was followed by a debate, in the course 
 o 
 
2 10 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of which Clive made another speech,' in which he 
 recapitulated his services, and referred to the approval 
 which on several occasions they had received from 
 the Court of Directors. After reading to the House 
 more than one letter from the Court expressing their 
 full approval of all his proceedings, he said :— 
 
 'After such certificates as these. Sir, am I to be 
 brought here as a criminal, and the very best parts 
 of my conduct construed as a crime 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 and 
 abilities I revere, would never have consented to the 
 resolutions that were 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 the extensive resolution proposed that all I 
 have in the world is to be confiscated, and that no 
 one will henceforward take my security for a shilling. 
 These, Sir, are dreadful apprehensions to remain under, 
 and I cannot look upon myself but as a bankrupt ; 
 nothing my own, and totally unable to give any 
 security while these resolutions are pending. Such, 
 
 ^ Appendix II, 
 
LORD CLIVE 211 
 
 Sir, is the situation I am in. I have not anything 
 left which I can call my own except my paternal 
 fortune of ;^500 per annum, 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 therein 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 (General 
 
 Burgoyne) and of this House is that the State, as 
 
 expressed in these resolutions, is quoad hoc the 
 
 Company, then. Sir, every farthing that I enjoy is 
 
 granted to me. But to be called, after sixteen years 
 
 have elapsed, to account for my conduct in this 
 
 manner, and after an uninterrupted enjoyment of my 
 
 property, to have it questioned and considered as 
 
 obtaining it unwarrantably, is hard indeed, and a 
 
 treatment I should not think the British Senate 
 
 capable of. But if it should be the case, I have a 
 
 conscious innocence within me that tells me my 
 
 conduct is irreproachable. " Frangas non Jlectes." 
 
 They 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 made at that 
 
 bar, and 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 Clive sat down, the debate was adjourned to 
 
212 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the 2 1 St May, when Burgoyne's motion, the text of 
 which has been already given, was put to the vote. 
 It was at once moved as an amendment by Mr 
 Stanley that the first part of the motion ending with 
 the words 'English money, of ^^234,000' should be 
 put separately. Mr Rose Fuller, who seconded the 
 amendment, added to it a clause that the words 
 ' through the influence of the powers with which he 
 was entrusted as a member of the Select Committee 
 and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces,* 
 should be left out. This occasioned a long debate, 
 at the end of which Mr Stanley's amendment, as 
 further amended by Mr Fuller, was carried by a 
 majority of 155 votes against 95. 
 
 Burgoyne then made a final attempt to carry his 
 point by moving that 'Lord Clive did, in so doing, 
 abuse the powers with which he was entrusted to the 
 evil example of the servants of the public' The 
 majority of the House, who had just negatived a 
 similar motion, were not prepared to accept this, and 
 the previous question was carried without a division. 
 Finally, at five o'clock in the morning, it was moved 
 by Wedderburn and carried, also without a division, 
 that ' Robert Lord Clive did at the same time render 
 great and meritorious services to his country.' Thus 
 ended this extraordinary inquiry, which, although 
 not technically a trial, was one in reality. The result 
 was to relieve Clive from further anxiety as to his 
 future. 
 
LORD CLIVE 213 
 
 There was more than one noteworthy feature 
 connected with these proceedings. Before they 
 concluded, the Prime Minister perceived that the 
 real, indeed the sole, object of the Select Committee 
 was to injure Clive, and that its investigations did 
 not tend to throw any light upon the affairs of the 
 East India Company, at that time most seriously em- 
 barrassed. He therefore obtained, at the commence- 
 ment of the Session of 1773, the appointment of a 
 Committee of Secrecy, composed of thirteen members, 
 with power to examine the books of the Company, 
 and with instructions to report upon its financial 
 position, and also to state whether the Directors 
 should be allowed to carry out a proposal which 
 they had made, to send out six Supervisors to 
 superintend the affairs of India. The existence at 
 the same time of two Committees of the House of 
 Commons, both dealing with the affairs of India, 
 has been described as a strange anomaly, and it is 
 probable that the two Committees at times travelled 
 over the same ground ; but the objects with which 
 the two Committees were appointed were different. 
 The object sought in the appointment of the 
 Select Committee was, it is clear, to ruin Clive. 
 The object in view in the appointment of the 
 Committee of Secrecy was to reform Indian adminis- 
 tration. The first Committee failed in its object. 
 It inflicted upon Clive a protracted torture. It 
 probably helped to shorten his life ; but it failed to 
 
214 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 deprive him of his property, and it did not materially 
 injure his reputation. The verdict writh which the 
 inquiry conducted by the Select Committee closed 
 was not at all the sort of verdict which Sullivan 
 and Clive's other enemies had in view. On the 
 other hand, the inquiries held by the Committee of 
 Secrecy were followed by some useful reforms, most 
 of them in accordance with recommendations 
 previously made by Clive. Of these the most 
 important was the Regulating Act of 1773, which, 
 though defective in some respects, was a great 
 improvement upon the state of things which 
 previously existed. It created a Governor-General 
 with control over the whole of British India. It 
 substituted for the cumbersome arrangement of a 
 Council composed of sixteen members, with a Select 
 Committee which could overrule the decisions of 
 the Council, a Council composed of four members. 
 It substituted four years for one year as the period 
 for which the Directors of the Company were to 
 hold their seats, and it raised the qualification for a 
 vote at the election of the Directors. Its great defect 
 was that it withheld from the Governor-General 
 the power of overruling his Council, a power which 
 Clive had asked for when he was sent out to India 
 in 1764. The withholding of this power was the 
 main cause of Warren Hastings's difficulties, although 
 the latter were doubtless in no small measure due 
 to the extraordinary unfitness of some of the men 
 
LORD CLIVE Z15 
 
 appointed to the new Council, and especially of Sir 
 Philip Francis. 
 
 The proceedings of the Select Comrnittee were 
 characterised by a vindictive spirit which was extremely 
 discreditable to the House of Commons, James Mill, 
 who, in his History of British India, took, as a general 
 rule, by no means a favourable view of Clive's conduct 
 and character, condemns the Parliamentary proceed- 
 ings against Clive in language, the justice of which 
 it is impossible to dispute. He writes, ' The considera- 
 tions which fairly recommended the rejection or at 
 least a very great modification of the general pro- 
 ceedings, were not so much as mentioned ; the 
 punishment threatened was more grievous than the 
 offence ; it was punishment by an ex post facto law, 
 because, however contrary to the principles of right 
 government, the presents received from Mfr Jafar, 
 and however odious to the moral sense the deception 
 practised upon Omichand, there was no law at the 
 time which forbade them ; the presents, however 
 contrary to European morals and ideas, were per- 
 fectly correspondent to those of the country in which 
 they were received, and to the expectations of the 
 parties by whom they were bestowed ; the treachery 
 to Omichand was countenanced and paUiated by 
 some of the principles and many of the admired 
 incidents of European diplomacy ; Clive, though 
 never inattentive to his own interests, was actuated 
 by a sincere desire to promote the prosperity of the 
 
2i6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Company, and appears not in any instance to have 
 sacrificed what he regarded as their interests to his 
 own ; and it would have required an extraordinary 
 man, which no one ought to be punished for not 
 being, to have acted in that most trying situation in 
 which he was placed with greater disinterestedness 
 than he displayed.' " 
 
 We have said that the verdict of the House of 
 Commons relieved Clive from anxiety as to his 
 future. But it did not relieve him from the 
 consequences of the heavy strain, both mental and 
 physical, to which he had been exposed during the 
 time the inquiry lasted, extending over the greater 
 part of two Sessions, and the interval between them. 
 While the strain continued, Clive bore up against 
 it with the unfailing courage which he invariably 
 evinced in times of difficulty. But when the inquiry 
 terminated and the strain was removed, he seems 
 to have gradually collapsed. The maladies which he 
 had brought with him from India, induced by a life of 
 constant exposure and fatigue in an unhealthy climate, 
 and aggravated rather than alleviated by a free and 
 increasing use of opium, would seem not only to 
 have sapped his physical strength, but to have 
 caused extreme mental depression. He suffered 
 much from gall-stones. He tried the waters of Bath, 
 and again visited the Continent, but none of the 
 remedies which were prescribed afforded permanent 
 
 ' Mill's History of British India, vol. iii. pp. 358-359. 
 
LORD CLIVE 217 
 
 relief. Notwithstanding all he had undergone, he 
 still had many of the blessings of life. He had a 
 beautiful and accomplished wife, devotedly attached 
 to him, affectionate sons and daughters, and a large 
 body of friends, most of whom had stood by him during 
 all his troubles. Added to these advantages, he was 
 in possession, now secure, of a magnificent fortune, 
 which enabled him to gratify his generous instincts 
 in conferring benefits upon his family and friends. 
 He was still in early middle age, and might, had he 
 desired it, have taken an active part in politics, 
 if indeed he had not been again employed in a mili- 
 tary capacity, in which he had already so greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself. It has been said that the Govern- 
 ment contemplated employing him in America, in 
 the war which was then looming in the near 
 future, and it is not improbable that in this event, 
 as more than one of his biographers has suggested, 
 the independence of the United States might have 
 been postponed for another half-century. The one 
 thing he lacked was that greatest blessing of all, 
 unimpaired health. His physical sufferings, added 
 to a tendency to mental depression which had 
 characterised him from an early age, were doubtless 
 in a great measure responsible for his melancholy 
 end, although there can be little question that 
 it was hastened by the trying events of the 
 previous two years. Some years before his death, 
 in a letter addressed to his friend and secretary. 
 
2i8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Henry Strachey, Clive had used the following 
 language : — 
 
 'I suiFer in the manner I did on board the Britannia^ 
 both from the bile and from my former nervous com- 
 plaint, but not more, which convinces me the roots of 
 both disorders still remain, and I much fear I must be 
 unhappy as long as I live, tho' I am certain there is 
 nothing mortal in either of them, and, in all proba- 
 bility, I shall drag on a miserable life for 15 or 20 
 years longer, as I have already done since the year 
 1752. That I am fatter and stronger since I landed 
 at Portsmouth is certain, that I can trot on horseback 
 for 15 to 20 miles together, use more exercise, and 
 have left off ophium entirely. 
 
 ' VizENAS, April 22, 1768.' 
 
 And a few days before the end came, in a letter to 
 the same correspondent, he used language still more 
 despondent, — • 
 
 ' How miserable,' he wrote, ' is my condition. I 
 have a disease which makes life insupportable, but 
 which doctors tell me won't shorten it an hour.' 
 
 Clive's death took place on the 22d November 
 1774, when he was little more than forty-nine years 
 of age. The manner of it, and the circumstances 
 which attended it, like most things about Clive, 
 were extraordinary. The following account is taken 
 from Gleig's Life : — 
 
 ' A female friend, it appears, was on a visit at his 
 house. He had suffered extremely throughout the 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 219 
 
 whole of the 21st November, and was driven more 
 than was * usual with him to seek relief in strong 
 doses of laudanum. The same process continued 
 during the early part of the 22d ; but that his reason 
 was not clouded, nor his self-possession taken away, 
 the following fact seems to prove. About noon on 
 the 22d, or a little later, the lady came into his room 
 and said, " Lord Clive, I cannot find a good pen ; 
 will you be so good as to make me one ? " " To 
 be sure," replied he ; and taking a penknife from 
 his waistcoat pocket, he moved towards one of the 
 windows and mended the pen. The lady received 
 it back with thanks, and withdrew. In a short time 
 afterwards, a servant entering found Lord CHve dead ; 
 and the instrument with which he had destroyed him- 
 self proved, on examination, to be the same small 
 knife with which he had mended his friend's pen.' 
 There is, however, another account of Clive's 
 death, given by Sir Edward Strachey, and quoted 
 in an article in the Spectator for the 4th November 
 1893, which differs from that given above, and is to 
 the effect that on the day on which Clive committed 
 suicide, he and Lady Clive, together with Mr and 
 Mrs Strachey and Miss Ducarrel (the lady above 
 referred to), were in a room in Clive's house in 
 Berkeley Square,' when Clive left the room, and on 
 
 ' Sir Edward IStrachey, who has kindly communicated on the 
 subject with the writer of this Memoir, now adds that some of the 
 party, including Clive, were playing at whist. 
 
220 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 his not returning, Mr Strachey advised Lady Clive 
 to see where he was. ' She went to look for him, 
 and at last, opening a door, found him with his 
 throat cut.' In the following number of the Spectator 
 (November ii, 1893) there is a letter from Sir 
 Frederick Halliday, the oldest, and one of the most 
 eminent of the Bengal civil servants still living, who 
 is a grandson of Miss Ducarrel, or properly Ducarel. 
 In this letter Sir F. Halliday repeats the story, as told 
 by Gleig, on the authority of his grandmother, whom 
 he describes as a woman with a strong, clear head, 
 who lived on to 1834, when she was ninety-two 
 years old. The two accounts would be reconcilable 
 were it not that Sir Frederick states that Clive, after 
 mending the pen, went into another apartment, and 
 immediately put an end to himself — the point is not 
 perhaps of much importance. 
 
 Clive was buried in the churchyard at Moreton Say, 
 the parish in which he was born. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 REMARKABLE POINTS IN THE CAREER OF CLIVE 
 
 CLIVE's character INCONSISTENCIES IN IT 
 
 MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE's ESTIMATE OF CLIVE 
 
 PUBLIC INGRATITUDE EVINCED TOWARDS CLIVE 
 
 AND HIS THREE GREATEST SUCCESSORS. 
 
 The career of Ciive was a very remarkable one, 
 whether we consider the position and reputation 
 which he, beginning life as a clerk in the service 
 of a mercantile company, was able to achieve at a 
 very early age ; or the combination of administrative 
 capacity in civil affairs with miUtary genius of the 
 highest order ; or the difficulties under which he 
 laboured, arising from a temperament peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible of nervous depression, and from a physique 
 by no means strong ; or the shortness of the time 
 in which his work was done. 
 
 Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the story 
 is the very few years which it took to lay the found- 
 ation of the British Indian Empire. Clive received 
 his first military commission in 1747, and his first 
 course of service in India was brought to a close in 
 February 1753. In that brief period, amounting to 
 less than six years, Clive by his defence of Arcot, by 
 his victory at Kaveripdk, and by the other operations 
 
222 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 in which he was engaged in the South of India, at 
 the age of twenty-seven established his reputation 
 as a military commander. His second visit to India, 
 which included Plassey and the establishment of 
 British ascendancy in Bengal, lasted only from 27th 
 November 1755 to 25th February 1760, or little 
 more than four years. His third and last visit, in 
 which he laid the foundations of regular government 
 in Bengal, was cut short by ill health in twenty-two 
 months. Clive's real work in India thus occupied, 
 all told, a little less than twelve years. 
 
 In spite of all that has been written about Clive, a 
 considerable amount of misconception regarding his true 
 character exists even to this day. The common esti- 
 mate of him still is that he was a brave and able, but 
 violent and unscrupulous man. The prejudice against 
 him which embittered the latter years of his life, al- 
 though in a great degree unfounded, has not yet entirely 
 passed away. In a modern poem, entitled ' Clive's 
 Dream before Plassey,' ' Clive is thus apostrophised : — 
 
 ' Violent and bad, thou art Jehovah's servant still, 
 And e'en to thee a dream may be an Angel of His will. 
 
 Macaulay's statement that ' Clive, like most men 
 who are born with strong passions and tried by strong 
 temptations, committed great faults, but that our 
 island has scarcely ever produced a man more truly 
 great either in arms or in council,' is not only more 
 
 ■ Ex Eremo, poems chiefly written in India, by H. G. Keene. London, 
 
 1855. 
 
LORD CLIVE 223 
 
 generous but more just. The transactions upon 
 which Clive has been chiefly attacked are the fraud 
 upon Omichand and the pecuniary arrangement with 
 Mfr Jafar, For the fraud upon Omichand it is 
 impossible to offer any defence. It was not only 
 morally a crime, but, regarded merely from the point 
 of view of political expediency, it was a blunder of a 
 kind which, if it had been copied in after times, 
 would have deprived our Government in India of 
 one of the main sources of its power — the implicit 
 confidence of the natives in British faith. It is 
 sometimes suggested, in defence of dive's action in 
 this matter, that Watts and some of the other parties 
 to the conspiracy against the Nawdb were in the 
 power of the latter, and that their lives would cer- 
 tainly have been sacrificed had Omichand disclosed 
 the conspiracy ; but this argument ignores the fact 
 that Omichand's silence would have been equally 
 purchased by meeting his demand, instead of resorting 
 to a discreditable trick which left an indelible stain 
 upon Clive's reputation and upon the British name. 
 For the acceptance of the sum of money, large as 
 it was, which Mfr Jafar presented to Clive after Plassey, 
 and of the Jagfr which he subsequently conferred upon 
 him, there is something to be said, if not in justifica- 
 tion, at all events in extenuation. The East India 
 Company at that time tacitly sanctioned the accept- 
 ance by their servants of presents from the native 
 powers, paying them miserable salaries, but allowing 
 
224 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 them to enrich themselves by trade and presents. That 
 Clive would have scorned for the sake of personal gain, 
 under any circumstances, to take a course which he 
 knew to be inconsistent with the interests of his country, 
 is proved by the whole of his career, and among other 
 instances by his conduct in making war on his own 
 responsibility upon the Dutch, at the time when a 
 great part of his fortune was in hands of the Dutch 
 East India Company. And whatever errors he 
 committed in the two transactions above referred to, 
 those errors were nobly redeemed by the energetic 
 onslaught which he made during his second govern- 
 ment of Bengal upon the system of oppression, ex- 
 tortion and corruption which then prevailed. 
 
 It is not easy to define Clive's character. Like many 
 other characters, it was full of inconsistencies. Brave 
 and daring, magnanimous and generous, possessing an 
 inflexible will, and in every sense a leader of men, 
 he was not free from some of the defects which 
 are usually associated with a vain and petty nature. 
 He was greedy of praise and resented detraction. By 
 no means tolerant of opposition, he yet, when con- 
 vinced of the ability of a man whom he disliked, 
 was willing, as a matter of public duty, to employ 
 him. Perhaps the most philosophic estimate of his 
 character is that embodied in Mr Mountstuart 
 Elphinstone's preface ' to the Rise and Progress of the 
 British Power in the Easty in which the following 
 
 • See Appendix III. 
 
LORD CLIVE 225 
 
 remarks are especially noteworthy : ' Clive's estimate 
 of his own services, great as they were, by no means 
 fell short of their actual value. This does riot arise 
 from any indulgence of vanity on his part ; but there 
 is no occasion on which they can promote his views 
 or interest, where they are not brought forward in 
 an exaggerated form, with a boldness and conscious- 
 ness of worth that command our respect and overcome 
 our dislike to self-praise. Hence arose a marked 
 peculiarity of Clive's character. After the enormous 
 extent to which he profited by his situation, he 
 delights to dwell on his integrity and modera- 
 tion, and speaks of greed and rapacity in others 
 with scorn and indignation. Convinced that the 
 bounty of Mir Jafar fell short of his claims on the 
 Company, he inveighs against his successors who 
 receive presents which they had not earned, and 
 speaks of them with disgust as the most criminal 
 as well as the meanest of mankind. Nor are these 
 sentiments assumed to impose upon the piiblic. They 
 are most strongly expressed in his most confidential 
 letters, and appear to be drawn forth by the strength 
 of his feelings. In no stage of his life did Clive 
 appear with more dignity than during his persecution. 
 His boasts of merit and service now appear as a 
 personal resistance to calumny and oppression ; the 
 spirit with which he avowed and gloried in his acts 
 which excited the most clamour and odium, his 
 independence towards his judges, his defiance of 
 
 p 
 
226 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 his powerful enemies, excite our interest, while they 
 command our respect and admiration. 
 
 Clive's speeches during the inquiry in the House 
 of Commons show considerable oratorical power, 
 especially when we consider that action, and not 
 speaking, formed the main business of his life. His 
 letters were plain and to the point, if somewhat stifF 
 and formal in expression. Some of them have been 
 quoted in the pages of this Memoir. The following, 
 addressed to Wedderburn on hearing of the death 
 of his staunch friend, George Grenville, is a fair 
 specimen of his style : — 
 
 ' Bath, i8M No-vember 1770. 
 
 ' Dear Sir, — If the receipt of your very obliging 
 and confidential letter had not roused me, I doubt 
 much whether I should have prevailed upon myself to 
 put pen to paper, though there is something within 
 that tells me I shall at last overcome a disorder so 
 very distressing both to the mind and to the body. 
 Although the waters agree with me better than any 
 plan I have yet tried, yet by my feelings a journey 
 abroad, I fear, must be undertaken before I can obtain 
 a perfect recovery of my health. 
 
 ' Mr Grenville's death, though long expected, could 
 not but alFect me very severely. Gratitude first 
 bound me to him ; a more intimate connection after- 
 v/ords gave an opportunity of admiring his abilities 
 and respecting his worth and integrity. The dis- 
 solution of our valuable friend has shipwrecked all 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 227 
 
 our hopes for the present, and my indisposition hath 
 not only made me indifferent to the world of politics, 
 but to the world in general. What effect returning 
 health may have, I cannot answer for ; but if I can 
 judge for myself in my present situation, I wish to 
 support that independency which will be approved 
 of by my friends in particular, and by the public in 
 general. My sentiments are the same as yours with 
 regard to our conduct in the present times. 
 
 ' Your delicacy towards me serves only to convince 
 me of the propriety of my conduct in leaving you the 
 absolute master of your own conduct in Parliament, 
 free from all control but that of your own judgment, 
 and I am happy in this opportunity. Your great and 
 uncommon abilities must, sooner or later, place you in 
 one of the first posts of this Kingdom, and you may be 
 assured no man on earth wishes to see your honour and 
 your independency firmly established more than I.' 
 
 Among Clive's weaknesses were foppery in dress 
 and a love of display. When on service he dressed 
 very plainly ; but at other times he was much addicted 
 to fine clothes, and also to splendour in the liveries of 
 his domestic servants and in his general style of living. 
 In this respect he appears to have somewhat resembled 
 the other Anglo-Indians of the time, commonly known 
 as the ' Nabobs,' who, having acquired large fortunes 
 in India, sometimes by questionable methods, vied in 
 their expenditure with men of rank in this country. 
 
228 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Lord Chatham, in one of his speeches, gave ex- 
 pression to the opinion very commonly entertained 
 regarding the ' Nabobs ' in these words : ' For some 
 years past there has been an influx of vs'^ealth into this 
 country which has been attended with many fatal 
 consequences, because it had not been the regular, 
 natural produce of labour and honesty. The riches 
 of Asia have been poured in or upon us, and have 
 brought with them not only Asiatic luxury, but, I 
 fear, Asiatic principles of government. Without con- 
 nections, without any natural interest in the soil, the 
 importers of foreign gold have forced their way into 
 Parliament by such a torrent of private corruption 
 as no private hereditary fortune could resist.' 
 
 There can be no doubt that the evil repute in 
 which men of this class were held had a prejudicial 
 influence upon Clive in the eyes of his countrymen, 
 and led the more ignorant members of the community, 
 unmindful of his eminent services, to sympathise with 
 his opponents. 
 
 His great wealth, which is said to have yielded 
 an income of ^^40,000 a year, representing in those 
 days a much larger revenue than it does at the present 
 time, enabled him to indulge his taste for grandeur 
 and to give full play to his general instincts. His 
 mansion in Berkeley Square was lavishly furnished 
 and decorated. He greatly improved his old home 
 at Styche, which was usually occupied by his relatives. 
 He purchased Claremont from the Duchess of New- 
 
LORD CLIVE 229 
 
 castle, and expended a large sum in improving it, 
 besides presenting to his friend Wedderburn a house 
 in the neighbourhood, in order that he might have 
 a pleasant neighbour ; but the generosity with which he 
 dispensed his wealth excited envy rather than admiration. 
 
 It cannot be said that Clive was a man of refine- 
 ment either in manner or in appearance. His manner 
 was often brusque, and in society he was dull, except 
 when aroused by the discussion of some topic in 
 which he took an interest. His figure was ungrace- 
 ful. His temper, though warm, was generally kept 
 under control. In some of the sterling qualities of 
 human nature Clive must be accorded a high place. 
 He never forgot a kindness. To his friend and bene- 
 factor, Stringer Lawrence, he presented an annuity of 
 j^ 500, and he olFered a similar sum to Carnac if the 
 latter wished to retire from the Indian service. 
 
 In the relations of private life, Clive's character 
 appears to have been irreproachable. He was a 
 generous and dutiful son, a kind brother, an affec- 
 tionate husband and father, and a firm friend. 
 
 But it is .mainly by his public acts that Clive must 
 be judged. His life from an early age was devoted 
 to the public service. His industry, both in India 
 and in England, was indefatigable. His views were 
 clear and far-seeing. Mr Elphinstone, in his other- 
 wise excellent summary of Clive's character ' and 
 career, hardly does justice to him on this point. He 
 
 " Appendix III., p. 300. 
 
230 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 says that ' Clive's views were clear within the circle 
 of his vision, but they were not extensive.' When 
 we remember that Clive advised the transfer of the 
 government of India to the Crown nearly lOO years 
 before that transfer was effected, and that he foresaw 
 the conquest of Madagascar by the French,' which 
 took place only a few years ago, it is impossible to 
 maintain that Clive's views were not extensive. Few 
 statesmen have discerned more clearly the possibilities 
 of the future. Warren Hastings, Wellesley, and Dal- 
 housie completed Clive's work, but the foundations 
 of the British Empire in India were securely laid in 
 those comparatively few years in which Robert Clive's 
 brilliant services were rendered. All these men met 
 with ingratitude from their contemporaries. The 
 impeachment of Hastings, extending over seven long 
 years, is a blot upon English history. The treatment 
 of Wellesley by the Directors of the East India 
 Company proved them incapable, at that time at all 
 events', of realizing their responsibilities as governors 
 of a great Empire, while the ignorant clamour against 
 Dalhousie after the Mutiny took place, showed how 
 speedily the recollection of splendid services may for 
 a time be blotted out by disaster ; but the fame of 
 all these men has stood the test of years, and of 
 none more than of him who has formed the subject 
 of this Memoir. 
 
 ' Appendix I., pp. 274, 275. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 In the course of a debate in the House of Commons, 
 on a motion made by Mr Sullivan, then deputy-chair- 
 man of the East India Company, under date the 30th 
 March 1772, for leave to bring in a Bill for the better 
 regulation of the affairs of the East India Company 
 and for the due administration of justice in Bengal, 
 Lord Clive made the following speech : — 
 
 Sir, it is with great diffidence that I attempt to 
 speak to this House, but I find myself so particularly 
 called upon that I must make the attempt, though I 
 should expose myself in so doing. With what con- 
 fidence can I venture to give my sentiments upon a 
 subject of such national consequence, who myself 
 stand charged with having been the cause of the 
 present melancholy situation of the Company's affairs 
 in Bengal ? This House can have no reliance on my 
 opinion whilst such an impression remains unremoved. 
 The House will therefore give me the leave to remove 
 this impression, and to endeavour to restore myself to 
 their favourable opinion, which, I flatter myself, they 
 entertained of my conduct before these charges were 
 exhibited against me. Nor do I wish to lay my 
 
 231 
 
232 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 conduct before the members of this House only — I 
 speak likewise to my country in general, upon whom 
 I put myself, not only without reluctance, but with 
 alacrity. 
 
 It is well known that I was called upon, in the year 
 1764, by a General Court, to undertake the manage- 
 ment of the Company's affairs in Bengal when they 
 were in a very critical and dangerous situation. It is 
 as well known that my circumstances were independ- 
 ent and affluent. Happy in the sense of my past 
 conduct and services, happy in my family, happy in 
 my connections, happy in everything but my health, 
 which I lost in the Company's service, never to be 
 regained. This situation, this happiness, I relin- 
 quished at the call of the Company, to go to a far- 
 distant, unhealthy climate, to undertake the envious 
 task of reformation. My enemies will suppose that 
 I was actuated by mercenary motives. But this 
 House and my country at large will, I hope, think 
 more liberally. They will conceive that I undertook 
 this expedition from a principle of gratitude, from a 
 point of honour, and from a desire of doing essential 
 service to that Company under whose auspices I had 
 acquired my fortune and my fame. 
 
 My prospects on going abroad were by no means 
 pleasing or encouraging ; for after a violent contest, 
 thirteen Directors only were chosen who thought 
 favourably of my endeavours to serve the Company ; 
 the other eleven, however well they might wish to 
 
LORD CLIVE 233 
 
 the Company, were not willing that their good 
 purposes should be accomplished by me. They first 
 gave all possible obstruction to my acceptance of the 
 government, and afterwards declined investing me 
 with those powers without which I could not have 
 acted effectually for the benefit of the Company. 
 Upon my arrival in Bengal, I found the powers 
 given were so loosely and jesuitically worded that 
 they were immediately contested by the Council. I 
 was determined, however, to put the most extensive 
 construction upon them, because I was determined to 
 do my duty to my country. 
 
 Three paths were before me. One was strewed 
 with abundance of fair advantages. I might have put 
 myself at the head of the Government as I found 
 it. I might have encouraged the resolution which 
 the gentlemen had taken, not to execute the new 
 covenants which prohibited the receipt of presents ; 
 and although I had executed the covenants myself, 
 I might have contrived to return to England with an 
 immense fortune infamously added to the one before 
 honourably obtained. Such an increase of wealth 
 might have added to my weight in this country, but 
 it would not have added to my peace of mind ; because 
 all men of honour and sentiment would have justly 
 condemned me. 
 
 Finding my powers thus disputed, I might in despair 
 have given up the commonwealth and have left 
 Bengal without making an effort to save it. Such 
 
2 34 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 conduct would have been deemed the effect of folly 
 and cowardice. 
 
 The third path was intricate. Dangers and diffi- 
 culties were on every side. But I resolved to pursue 
 it. In short, I was determined to do my duty to 
 the public although I should incur the odium of 
 the whole settlement. The welfare of the Com- 
 pany required a vigorous exertion, and I took the 
 resolution of cleansing the Augean stable. 
 
 It was that conduct which has occasioned the 
 public papers to teem with scurrility and abuse 
 against me, ever since my return to England. It 
 was that conduct which occasioned these charges. 
 But it was that conduct which enables me now, 
 when the day of judgment is come, to look my 
 judges in the face. It was that conduct which 
 enables me now to lay my hand upon my heart 
 and most solemnly to declare to this House, to the 
 gallery and to the whole world at large, that I 
 never, in a single instance, lost sight of what I 
 thought the honour and true interest of my country 
 and the Company ; that I was never guilty of any 
 acts. of violence or oppression, unless the bringing 
 offenders to justice can be deemed so ; that, as to 
 extortion, such an idea never entered into my mind ; 
 that I did not suffer those under me to commit any 
 acts of violence, oppression or extortion ; that my 
 influence was never employed for the advantage of 
 any man, contrary to the strictest principles of honour 
 
LORD CLIVE 23s 
 
 and justice ; and that, so far from reaping any benefit 
 myself from the expedition, I returned to England 
 many thousand pounds out of pocket — a fact of 
 which this House will presently be convinced. 
 
 The House will, I hope, permit me to lay before 
 them a state of the charges I have alluded to, as well 
 as of the manner in which they were conveyed to me. 
 
 The first public intimation I had of them was by 
 the following letter from the Company's secretary : — 
 
 'East India House, "jth yan. 1772. 
 
 ' My Lord, — The Court of Directors of the East 
 India Company having lately received several papers 
 containing charges respecting the management of the 
 Company's affairs in Bengal, wherein your Lordship 
 is made a party, I am commanded to send you the 
 enclosed copies thereof, and at the same time to 
 acquaint your Lordship that, if you have any observa- 
 tions to make thereon, the Court of Directors would 
 be glad to receive them as expeditiously as may be 
 convenient to your Lordship. — I am, with great 
 respect, my Lord, etc., etc. 
 
 ' P. Mitchell, Sec. 
 
 ' The Right Hon. Lord Clive.' 
 
 My reply was to the Court of Directors as follows : — 
 
 ' Gentlemen, — I have received a letter from your 
 secretary inclosing copies of several papers, which he 
 
236 BUILDERS OF GREATER BAITAIN 
 
 informs me were lately received by you, containing 
 charges respecting the management of the Company's 
 affairs in Bengal, wherein I am made a party ; and at 
 the same time acquainting me that, if I have any 
 observations to make thereon, you will be glad to 
 receive them as expeditiously as may be convenient 
 to me. 
 
 ' You have not been pleased to inform me from 
 whom you received those papers ; to what end they 
 were laid before you ; what resolution you have come 
 to concerning them ; nor for what purpose you expect 
 my observations upon them. 
 
 'I shall, however, observe to you that upon the 
 public records of the Company, where the whole of 
 my conduct is stated, you may find a sufficient con- 
 futation of the charges which you have transmitted to 
 me. And I cannot but suppose that if any part of 
 my conduct had been injurious to the service, contra- 
 dictory to my engagements with the Company, or 
 even mysterious to you, four years and a half since my 
 arrival in England would not have elapsed before your 
 duty would have impelled you to call me to account. 
 — I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant, 
 
 'Clive. 
 
 ' To the Hon. the Court of Directors.' 
 
 The charges I shall briefly state in the following 
 order : — 
 
 First, a monopoly of cotton. Trade was not my 
 
LORD CLIVE 237 
 
 profession. My line has been military and political. 
 I owe all I have in the wdrld to my having been 
 at the head of an army ; and as to cotton — I know 
 no more about it than the Pope of Rome. 
 
 The second charge against me is a monopoly of 
 diamonds. And this also I shall get rid of in a few 
 words. There are only two channels by which a 
 servant of the Company can, with propriety, remit 
 his fortune. The one, by paying the money into 
 the treasury in India, and receiving bills upon the 
 Company, payable in England ; the other, by 
 diamonds. 
 
 By the acquisition of the Diwini, and the success- 
 ful endeavours of the Select Committee, the Company's 
 treasury was so rich that we could not have been 
 justified in drawing bills upon the Company. It was 
 necessary I should, in some mode, remit the amount 
 of my Jaglr. For this purpose, and for this only, I 
 sent an agent into a distant and independent country 
 to make purchases of diamonds. Those diamonds 
 were not sent home clandestinely ; I caused them to 
 be registered ; I paid the duties upon them, and these 
 remittances, upon the whole, turn out three per cent, 
 worse than bills of exchange upon the Company. 
 This is all I know of a monopoly of diamonds. 
 
 The third charge is frauds in the exchange and in 
 the gold coinage. This is a subject very much out of 
 my sphere. I am totally unacquainted with the pro- 
 portions of alloy and the mixture of metals. All I 
 
238 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 can speak to is the principle upon which we formed 
 the plan of a gold coinage. 
 
 Everybody knows that silver is the only current 
 coin in Bengal, and that gold is merely a species of 
 merchandise. The Select Committee, apprehensive 
 that the prodigious annual drains of silver to China 
 and other places would soon occasion a scarcity of 
 that metal in Bengal, considered of means to obviate 
 the bad effect of those exports. We knew that there 
 must be great quantities of gold in the country, and 
 we hoped to make it circulate in coin. Hence the 
 establishment of the gold currency. Whether it 
 answered our purpose or not I cannot say, as I did 
 not remain in Bengal long enough to experience the 
 effect of it. But this I know, that the assay and mint 
 master, by whose judgment we were guided, was a 
 very able and a very honest man, and has, I under- 
 stand, given a full and satisfactory explanation of his 
 plan to the Court of Directors. With regard to 
 myself, I shall only assert that I did not receive a 
 farthing advantage from it, and that I never sent a 
 single rupee or gold mohur to be coined in my life. 
 
 The fourth charge has this extraordinary title — 
 A monopoly of salt, betel nut and tobacco, and 
 other commodities, which occasioned the late famine. 
 How a monopoly of salt, betel nut and tobacco in 
 the years 1765 and 1766 could occasion a want of 
 rain and scarcity of rice in the year 1770, is past 
 my comprehension. I confess I cannot answer that 
 
LORD CLIVE 2 39 
 
 part of this article. And as to other commodities, as 
 they have not been specified I cannot say anything 
 to them. But with regard to the monopoly (as it 
 is called) of salt, betel nut and tobacco, I will 
 endeavour to explain the whole of that matter, and 
 the House will permit me to dwell the longer upon 
 it, as it is a point particularly insisted on by my 
 adversaries. It is a part of my conduct that may 
 be objected to by those who are unacquainted with 
 the subject. I know it has been misunderstood and 
 misrepresented even by some of my friends. They 
 have imputed it to an error of judgment. Now, 
 however ready I shall always be to acknowledge such 
 an error, yet I hope to convince this House that no 
 part of my conduct has been more unexceptionable, 
 and that the plan, if it had been adopted by the 
 Court of Directors, and strictly adhered to by the 
 Government in Bengal, would have proved not only 
 advantageous to the Company, but also beneficial to 
 the country ; but the Court of Directors, alarmed 
 at the word monopoly, seem never to have examined, 
 and I am sure never thoroughly comprehended, the 
 principles and effect of it. 
 
 Many years ago an expensive embassy was sent 
 to Delhi to obtain certain grants and privileges from 
 the Great Moghul in favour of the East India 
 Company, and amongst others was obtained the 
 privilege of trading duty free. The servants were 
 indulged with this privilege under the sanction of 
 
240 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the Company's name. The Company never carried 
 on any inland trade ; their commerce has been con- 
 fined to exports and imports only. It is impossible 
 that the servants should have a more extensive right 
 than the Company itself ever had. Yet they claimed 
 a privilege of carrying on an inland trade duty free. 
 The absurdity of a privilege so ruinous to the natives, 
 and so prejudicial to the revenues of the country, 
 is obvious. At the revolution in 1757 no such claim 
 vi'as set up, nor was any such trade carried on publicly, 
 or to my know^ledge, during my government which 
 ended in the beginning of the year 1760. 
 
 The first appearance of this claim was in Governor 
 Vansittart's time. The Nawib Kdsim Ali Khdn 
 strongly objected to it, representing to the Governor 
 and Council the fatal consequences to the black 
 merchants and to the revenues of his country. Mr 
 Vansittart was sensible of the justice of the Nawdb's 
 complaints, and soon after entered into articles of 
 agreement that the English should carry on ah 
 inland trade in salt, paying a duty of nine per cent., 
 which in fact was no remedy to the evil, because the 
 natives paid infinitely more. The Council disavowed 
 this act of Mr Vansittart, and insisted upon their 
 right to all inland trade duty free. The Nawdb, 
 enraged, threw open the trade throughout his country, 
 and abolished all duties, in order that his own 
 subjects might trade upon an equal footing with 
 the English. This on the other hand disobliged the 
 
LORD CLIVE 241 
 
 Council, who insisted that the Nawib should not 
 suffer even his own subjects to trade duty free, but 
 that the English alone should enjoy that privilege. 
 These transactions were not clearly known to the 
 Court of Directors till the year 1762, when they 
 disapproved of them in the strongest terms, positively 
 forbidding their servants to carry on any inland 
 trade whatsoever. It was nevertheless continued, and 
 with exemption from duties except in the article of 
 salt ; upon which a duty of two and a half per cent, 
 only was agreed to be paid, by a treaty with the 
 Nawib Mfr Jafar, after the deposition of Kdsim 
 AH Khdn. 
 
 Although the Court of Directors had been of 
 opinion that the inland trade ought to be totally 
 abolished, they, as well as the Proprietors, thought 
 the Company's servants might be indulged in it under 
 certain restrictions and regulations. In consequence 
 of this idea, the General Court, on the i8th of May 
 1764, came to the following resolution : — 
 
 ' Resolved that it be recommended to the Court 
 of Directors to re-consider the orders sent to Bengal 
 relative to the trade of the Company's servants 
 in the articles of salt, betel nut and tobacco ; and 
 that they do give such directions for regulating the 
 same, agreeable to the interest of the Company and 
 Subah, as to them may appear most prudent, either 
 by settling here at home the restrictions under which 
 this trade ought to be carried on, or by referring 
 
 e 
 
242 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 it to the Governor and Council of Fort William 
 to regulate this important point in such a manner 
 as may prevent all future disputes betvi^ixt the Subah 
 and the Company.' 
 
 This resolution w^as supported by the Court of 
 Directors, who in their general letter to the Governor 
 and Council, dated ist of June 1764, at the time I 
 went out to India, issued the following orders : — 
 
 Par. 54. ' For the reasons given in our letter of the 
 8th of February last, we were then induced to send 
 positive orders to put a final and effectual end to 
 the inland trade in salt, betel nut and tobacco, and 
 all other articles whatsoever, produced and consumed 
 in the country. To the remarks we made in that 
 letter we must add one observation, which is, it 
 appears very extraordinary that in a trade so 
 extremely lucrative to individuals, the interest of 
 the Company should not have been at all attended 
 to or considered. 
 
 55. ' Those orders were sent, it is true, before 
 we received the new treaty you entered into with 
 Mfr Jafar Ali Khin, upon his re-establishment 
 in the Subahship, in which it is agreed that the 
 English shall carry on their trade, by means of their 
 own dustick, free from all duties, taxes and 
 impositions in all parts of the country, excepting 
 the article of salt, on which a duty of two and a half 
 per cent, is to be levied on the rowanna or Hughli 
 market price ; wherein it is further agreed that the 
 
LORD CLIVE 243 
 
 late perwannahs issued by Kdsim Ali Khdn, grant- 
 ing to all merchants the exemption of all duties 
 for the space of two years, shall be reversed and 
 called in, and the duties collected as before, 
 
 56. ' These are terms which appear to be so very 
 injurious to the Nawib and to the natives that they 
 cannot, in the very nature of them, tend to anything 
 but the producing general heartburnings and dis- 
 satisfaction ; and consequently there can be little 
 reason to expect the tranquillity of the country can 
 be permanent. The orders, therefore, in our said 
 letter of the 8th of February are to remain in force 
 until a more equitable and satisfactory plan can be 
 formed and adopted, which, as it is impossible for us 
 to frame here, destitute as we are of the information 
 and lights necessary to guide us in settling such an 
 important affair — 
 
 57. 'You are therefore hereby ordered and directed, 
 as soon after the receipt of this as may be convenient, 
 to consult the Nawdb as to the manner of carrying 
 on the inland trade in salt, betel nut and tobacco, 
 and the other articles produced and consumed in the 
 country, which may be most to his satisfaction and 
 advantage, the interest of the Company, and likewise 
 of the Company's servants. 
 
 58. ' You are thereupon to form a proper and 
 equitable plan for carrying on the said trade, and 
 transmit the same to us, accompanied by such 
 explanations, observations and remarks as may enable 
 
244 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 us to give our sentiments and directions thereupon in 
 a full and explicit manner. 
 
 59. ' In doing this, as before observed, you are to 
 have a particular regard to the interest and entire 
 satisfaction of the Nawab, both virith respect to his 
 revenues and the proper support of his government ; 
 in short, this plan must be settled with his free will 
 and consent, and in such a manner as not to aflTord 
 any just grounds for complaint. 
 
 60. ' In the next place, the utmost care and 
 attention must be bestowed in forming the said plan, 
 that in some proper mode or shape a just and equit- 
 able consideration be secured for the Company. 
 
 61. 'If any inconveniences shall be apprehended to 
 arise to the Company's investments upon carrying 
 on such an inland trade, you are to give us your full 
 thoughts thereupon, and in what manner they may 
 be obviated. 
 
 62. ' You are to give your impartial and unbiassed 
 thoughts, also, whether the carrying on this inland 
 trade may affect the just rights and privileges of the 
 French, Dutch or any other Europeans, and thereby 
 tend to draw on any national altercations and embroils, 
 which are by all means to be avoided in forming 
 the said plan ; therefore you are to be particularly 
 careful to prevent these, or any other evils of the 
 like kind.' 
 
 Notwithstanding these authorities, it has been 
 asserted that the Select Committee in Bengal, when 
 
LORD CLIVE 245 
 
 they framed a plan for carrying on the trade in 
 salt, betel nut and tobacco, acted in disobedience 
 to the orders of the Company. And to support 
 this assertion, partial extracts have been produced 
 of some of the Company's letters, which were in 
 fact written in answer to those proceedings of 
 former administrations in Bengal, of which I have 
 already given some description. 
 
 When the Select Committee assembled in Bengal, 
 they were determined upon a thorough reformation. 
 They were determined at all events to do their duty. 
 
 It is necessary the House should know that there 
 are but two ways by which gentlemen can acquire 
 fortunes in Bengal — by the inland trade, and by 
 presents. The export and import trade had been 
 for some years dwindling away, and was not worth 
 the attention of the servants. It was carried on 
 chiefly by free merchants and free mariners, and 
 they could scarcely live by it. The inland trade 
 was, as I have shown, permitted to be carried on 
 upon some equitable plan for the benefit of the 
 Company, who had hitherto received no advantage 
 firom it, and likewise for the benefit of the Com- 
 pany's servants, who hitherto had swallowed up 
 the whole. 
 
 With regard to the receipt of presents : that mode 
 of raising a fortune was intended to be prevented 
 by the new covenants. But we must consider a 
 little the nature of the funds for presents. Every 
 
246 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 revolution in Bengal was attended with some 
 diminution of the Nawdb's authority, and with 
 some advantages to the Company. Kdsim Ali 
 Khan, upon the deposition of Mir Jafar, was 
 obliged to make over to the Company territorial 
 possessions to the amount of between six and seven 
 hundred thousand pounds per annum. Mir Jafar, 
 when he was reinstated in the Subahship, added 
 above sixty thousand pounds a month more for 
 the support of our army during the war ; so that 
 the Company became possessed of one-half of the 
 Nawdb's revenues. The Nawdb was allowed to 
 collect the other half for himself. But in fact he 
 was no more than a banker for the Company's 
 servants, who could draw upon him as often and 
 to what amount they pleased. 
 
 The new covenants, indeed, which prohibited the 
 receipt of presents, were intended to prevent this 
 mode of raising fortunes ; but the Select Committee 
 went much deeper ; they struck at the root of 
 the evil by procuring the whole for the Company, 
 which totally deprived the servants of this resource. 
 
 It was not expedient, however, to draw the reins 
 too tight. It was not expedient that the Company's 
 servants should pass from affluence to beggary. It 
 was necessary that some emoluments should accrue 
 to the servants in general, and more especially to 
 those in superior stations, who were to assist in 
 carrying on the measures of government. The 
 
LORD CLIVE 247 
 
 salary of a councillor is, I think, scarcely three 
 hundred pounds per annumi : and it is well known 
 that he cannot live in that country for less than 
 three thousand pounds. The same proportion holds 
 among the other servants. It was requisite, there- 
 fore, that an establishment should take place ; and 
 the Select Committee, after the most mature deliber- 
 ation, judged that the trade in salt, betel nut and 
 tobacco, under proper regulations, might effectually 
 answer the purpose. The great object of our con- 
 sideration was, whether this trade could be regulated 
 for the advantage of the Company, and also for 
 the Company's servants, without oppressing the 
 natives. We thought it could. The House will 
 observe that I make no mention of the Nawib, 
 because the Company, to whom the revenues now 
 belonged, stood in his shoes, a circumstance which 
 seems never to have been thoroughly adverted to 
 by the Directors, even to this day. 
 
 Had we only formed our plan and deferred the 
 execution of it till the pleasure of the Court of 
 Directors should be known, all the gentlemen in 
 their service must in the meantime have been 
 totally unprovided for. But the declared intention 
 of the Company was that the trade in salt, betel 
 nut and tobacco should be regulated, not only 
 for their own advantage, but for the advantage of 
 their servants. A plan was accordingly framed. I 
 was up the country at the time, employed in 
 
248 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 settling the treaty of peace with Sujah ul Daulah, 
 and obtaining from the Moghul the grant of the 
 Diwdnii The plan was framed principally by Mr 
 Sumner, who took the medium price of salt 
 throughout the country for above twenty years 
 past, and fixed the price at from twelve to fifteen 
 per cent, below that medium. Hence it was not 
 probable that any grievance should fall upon the 
 poor ; and the plan was settled for one year only, 
 that we might have an early opportunity of com- 
 pleting afterwards what was originally intended as 
 an experiment. A duty, however, of thirty-five per 
 cent, upon salt was established for the Company, 
 which amounted to about ^^ 120,000 per annum; 
 and all the Company's servants except writers, and 
 also all the field officers of the army, had shares, 
 according to their respective rank. But I soon 
 found there was some defect in this plan. It was 
 really a monopoly. The trade was taken out of 
 the hands of some of the merchants. The propor- 
 tion of the Company's servants was too large, the 
 duty to the Company was too small. The agents 
 appointed to sell the salt had made an improper 
 use of their power ; they had not strictly kept up 
 to their contract, which was that they should 
 receive five per cent, upon the sale of salt as a 
 recompense for their trouble, and that they should 
 not enter into any trade for themselves, under a 
 very severe penalty. 
 
LORD CLIVE 249 
 
 I therefore proposed a plan for the next year, 
 which I think destroyed every idea of monopoly. 
 The society, instead of employing agents up the 
 country to dispose of the salt, were to sell it at 
 Calcutta, and at the places where it was made, to 
 the black merchants only, who were each limited 
 to a certain quantity of purchase, and tied down 
 to a price for sale at every market town. The 
 duty to the Company was now established at fifty 
 per cent., which would produce ^160,000 per 
 annum ; the black merchants were to have the 
 liberty of transporting the salt all over the country, 
 free from every taxation or obstruction ; and the 
 strictest orders were issued that no Englishmen, or 
 their agents, should directly or indirectly have any 
 further concern in it. 
 
 With regard to the price, I must inform the 
 House that in Bengal salt stands the maker in 
 about 2s. 6d. per maund by the time it reaches 
 Calcutta. A maund is 80 pounds. The duty to 
 the Company, and the advantages to the servants, 
 were stated at about 2s. 6d. more, which 
 makes upon the whole one hundred per cent. 
 Salt in England, I am told, stands the maker in 
 about 8d. per bushel, or 56 pounds ; and the duty 
 is 3s. 4d. per bushel, which is five hundred 
 per cent. I have inquired into the salt trade in 
 England. I think we settled it upon rather a 
 better footing in India ; for the quantity to be 
 
250 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 bought by any one dealer was fixed, and the 
 price at which it was to be sold in every town 
 throughout the kingdom, according to the distance 
 from the salt pans, was also fixed. 
 
 In London, salt is sold at 5s. a bushel, which 
 is something less than a penny a pound. In India, 
 salt is sold by the maund, which is, as I have said, 
 80 pounds, and it comes to a rupee, or 2s, 6d., a 
 maund, all expenses paid, exclusive of the duty. 
 The duty, as I have informed the House, is 2S. 6d. 
 more. 
 
 Now, I will suppose that salt in Bengal sold under 
 the second year's plan at the very price fixed by the 
 first year's plan, then it would stand the consumer 
 in about three farthings a pound at Calcutta, a penny 
 a pound at distant places, and five farthings a pound 
 at Patna, which is one of the most distant parts, being 
 about 1200 miles by water from Calcutta. 
 
 The whole quantity of salt contracted for by the 
 society was 24 lakhs of maunds, which, multiplied 
 by 80 for the number of maunds in a pound, make 
 192 millions of pounds. The number of inhabitants 
 I shall take upon the hon. member's (Mr Sullivan) 
 computation, that is to say, 15 millions. I strike 
 off 5 millions for infants and accidents. Then 
 divide the 192 millions of pounds by the other 10 
 millions of inhabitants, and we shall find the quantity 
 of salt consumed in one year, by the rich and by the 
 poor, will be under 20 pounds each. To give the 
 
LORD CLIVE 251 
 
 argument its utmost scope, I allow 20 pounds to the 
 poor as well as to the rich man, although it is certain 
 he does not consume half the quantity. These 20 
 pounds will cost the individual at Calcutta rather 
 less than is. 3d., in the centre of the provinces, 
 IS. 8d., and at Patna, the greatest distance, rather 
 less than 2s. 6d. This is the utmost of every man's 
 expense in the year for salt. 
 
 The lowest wages in Bengal are 2 rupees a 
 month, which is 24 rupees, or ^^3 per annum. The 
 poor man can scarcely be said to be at any other 
 expense than for eating. They drink nothing but 
 water ; they wear no clothes ; the houses are built 
 with mud or clay, thatched with straw. Now, I 
 leave the House to judge whether the expense of 
 from IS. 3d. to 2S. 6d. a year for 20 pounds of salt, 
 even to these the very poorest of the inhabitants, can 
 be a grievance. The eyes of the world have been 
 blinded by publications. The matter of fact is this : 
 the grievance fell upon a number of black merchants 
 who used to live by that trade, for the Company's 
 servants not only monopolised the salt, but, by virtue 
 of their influence and power, bought it at what price 
 they pleased, and sold it at what price they pleased. 
 
 To indulge my enemies to the utmost, I will allow 
 for a moment, although it is not so, that in the inter- 
 mediate time, between the farming of the salt trade 
 by a Mussulman (for it was always a monopoly in 
 the hands of Khoja Vazid, or some person or persons 
 
2 52 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 who paid large sums of money to the Nawdb or his 
 Ministers for the exclusive privilege) and the regula- 
 tions established by the Select Committee, salt vvas 
 sold somewhat cheaper. What does that infer ? It 
 infers only this, that the Company's servants, by virtue 
 of their power and authority, exonerated the salt of 
 all those duties and exactions which it was formerly 
 subject to, amounting, perhaps, to two hundred per 
 cent., and then made a merit of selling it cheaper to 
 the inhabitants ; as if a set of men in this country, 
 by their power and influence, were to decline paying 
 the duty of five hundred per cent, to Government, 
 and then boast of selling it at a lower price than had 
 been usual. In fact, when the salt was what has been 
 called an open trade, it was then the most monopolised, 
 because the Company's servants traded in it to what 
 extent and advantage they thought proper, as indeed 
 they did in every other article of inland trade. 
 
 In short, the Select Committee established their 
 plan upon experience and a thorough knowledge of 
 the Company's interest, and the conduct of the Court 
 of Directors in abolishing it was founded upon ob- 
 stinacy and ignorance. 
 
 A short history of the conduct of these gentlemen 
 will set the matter in its proper light. 
 
 I have said before that the Directors disapproved 
 of the trade in salt, betel nut and tobacco carried on 
 by the servants from the first moment that they 
 became acquainted with it. 
 
LORD CLIVE 253 
 
 They positively and repeatedly ordered that they 
 should have no concern in it, directly or indirectly. 
 They declared that it was an infringement of the 
 rights of the natives, that they had consulted the sages 
 in the law, and that the servants were liable to pro- 
 secution for persevering in that illicit trade. After 
 this, they agreed that the Select Committee should 
 regulate this trade in such a manner as might be 
 advantageous to the Company and their servants with- 
 out injury to the Nawdb. The Committee did regu- 
 late it ; a very large profit was established for the 
 Company. The servants, also, were amply provided 
 for, and no oppression (under the Committee's regula- 
 tion) could possibly fall upon the people of the country. 
 The Court of Directors disapproved of our plan, and 
 did not substitute any in the room of it, neither did 
 they establish any duties. They issued orders that 
 their servants, who acted as sovereigns, should totally 
 relinquish this trade themselves, and endeavour to 
 prevent its being monopolised by any rich overgrown 
 merchant of the country. They meant that it should 
 be laid open to the natives, and to them only, not 
 seeing that their orders could not extend to the 
 servants of foreign companies, who would, of course, 
 gain considerably by that trade, of which the English 
 were to be deprived. 
 
 In November 1767, and not before, the Court of 
 Directors came to a determination of allowing their 
 servants, in lieu of this trade, two and a half per cent. 
 
254 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 upon the revenues. They then also, for the first 
 time, thought of establishing a duty upon salt. They 
 proposed fixing it so as that it should produce to the 
 Company j/^31,000 per annum. At this time I was 
 in England ; I heard accidentally what was in agita- 
 tion. I expostulated with the Court of Directors by 
 letter ; I represented to them that they were doing 
 the most manifest injury to the Company ; that if 
 those advantages which the Select Committee had 
 proposed for the servants were disapproved of, they 
 ought to be enjoyed by the Company ; that those 
 advantages and the duties together would amount to 
 ^300,000 per annum, which I thought no incon- 
 siderable object. I further represented to them that 
 although they should give the servants two and a half 
 per cent, on the revenues in lieu of the salt trade, the 
 gentlemen might still trade in that article, under the 
 names of their banyans or black agents, to what 
 extent they pleased. To these representations they 
 paid no other attention than that of altering the pro- 
 posed duty from j^3 1,000 to ;^ 120,000 per annum. 
 What was the consequence ? The servants received ■ 
 the two and a half per cent, on the revenues ; they 
 traded in salt as much as ever, but without paying 
 the duty, and I am well informed that the Company, 
 from the time of the abolition of the Committee's 
 plan to this hour, have not received a shilling duty. 
 Finally, the Court of Directors suiFered this branch 
 of trade to revert to the very channel from whence 
 
LORD CLIVE 255 
 
 had flowed all those abuses and all those misfortunes 
 which they had so loudly complained of. This trade, 
 contrary to their own ideas of equity to the natives, 
 and contrary to the advice of the sages of the law, is 
 now laid open to the English, and to every European, 
 as well as native, inhabitant of Bengal, Behar and 
 Orissa. The consequences of this we are still to 
 learn. As the case stands at present, the Court of 
 Directors have in all this time (five years) given up 
 no less than ^^ 1,500,000, which the Company ought 
 to have received if the emoluments taken from the 
 servants had been added to the duty proposed by the 
 Select Committee. And in this sum is not included 
 the two and a half per cent, commission granted out 
 of the revenues. 
 
 Having thus stated everything material relative to 
 this matter, I submit to the consideration of the House 
 whether the plan adopted by the Committee was for 
 the benefit of the Company or not. The House will 
 observe that I have spoken of the salt trade only. I 
 omit mentioning the betel nut and tobacco trade, 
 because the former is not an advantageous article 
 in comparison with the salt trade, and the latter, 
 although a part of the plan of the Committee, was 
 totally relinquished. 
 
 The Governor and Council are accused of having 
 entered into a combmation, by bond, to support the 
 society in spite of any orders from home. Mr Bolts, 
 in his book, has given a copy of the bond. The 
 
256 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 substance of the bond was stated in the public pro- 
 ceedings of the Board sent to England for the in- 
 formation of the Directors, and we applied to them 
 for permission to renew the bond annually, if the 
 plan of the salt trade met with their approbation. 
 In that bond the committee of trade made themselves 
 responsible for the duties. T.\e contract for the 
 making of salt ran for a year. The society, there- 
 fore, could not be abolished before the end of the year, 
 which was the first of September ; and nothing more 
 seems necessary to prove we had no idea of contesting 
 any orders from home, but that on the contrary we 
 resolved to obey, than to read to the House the 
 following resolution of the Select Committee : — 
 
 ' Resolved, that the society of trade shall be 
 abolished, and the inland trade totally relinquished on 
 the first day of September next, but that we fully 
 express our sentiments in our next advices to the 
 Company, respecting the advantages which would 
 result to the service and to the country from the con- 
 tinuance of this trade under the present restrictions.' 
 
 This resolution also confutes a particular accus- 
 ation against myself; for the gentleman who laid 
 the charges before the Court of Directors has roundly 
 asserted that, although the Company disapproved of 
 the plan of the society, no order was issued during 
 my government for abolishing it. 
 
 I must in this case beg leave to inform the House 
 that I, as Governor, had a proportion of advantage 
 
LORD CLIVE 257 
 
 in this trade. What that proportion was, and in 
 what manner I disposed of it, shall be clearly and 
 accurately stated before I sit down. 
 
 I shall now proceed to the next charge against me, 
 which is peculation of revenues. And here I must 
 have recourse to a minute of mine, which stands 
 recorded in the India House, because I think it 
 will explain this matter much more fully than I can 
 do by word of mouth, and the House will see in that 
 minute the ground-work of part of a Bill proposed 
 to be brought in for the regulation of the Company's 
 affairs abroad. 
 
 ' Lord Clive's Minute. 
 
 'Our attention as a Select Committee, invested 
 with extraordinary powers by the Court of Directors, 
 has been constantly engaged in reforming the abuses 
 which had crept into the several departments of this 
 Government. The important work has been steadily 
 prosecuted with zeal, diligence and disinterestedness 
 on our parts ; and the success of our labour gives us 
 reason to hope that our employers will be of opinion 
 we have established many useful and necessary reg- 
 ulations. Many others, however, are still wanting to 
 complete our plan ; but I doubt not that the same 
 principles which have hitherto guided our conduct 
 will continue to direct and justify the measures we 
 have yet to pursue. 
 
 'To place the President in such a situation as will 
 
 R 
 
2 58 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 render his Government honourable to himself and 
 advantageous to the Company, appears to me an 
 object of as much consequence as any that has been 
 taken into our consideration. Where such immense 
 revenues are concerned, w^here povvrer and authority 
 are so enlarged, and w^here the eye of justice and 
 equity should be ever vi^atchful, a Governor ought not 
 to be embarrassed vsfith private business ; he ought 
 to be free from every occupation in which his judg- 
 ment can possibly be biassed by his interest. The 
 extensive commercial affairs, the study of the finances, 
 the politics of the country, the epistolary correspond- 
 ence, the proceedings of Council and Committee, 
 these are sufficient to employ every moment of his 
 time, and I am confident they cannot be conducted 
 with the requisite attention to the Company's in- 
 terest if the mind of the Governor be diverted by 
 complicated mercantile affairs of his own. 
 
 ' If we look back on those unhappy dissensions 
 which have frequently brought the Company's pos- 
 sessions in Bengal almost to the point of destruction, 
 we shall find that they have generally proceeded from 
 the conduct of Governors, who, too eager in the 
 pursuit of private interest, have involved themselves 
 in afJairs which could not be reconciled to the strict 
 principles of integrity. To prevent scrutinies and 
 discoveries which might in any degree affect their 
 honour, they have frequently been reduced to the 
 necessity of conniving at abuses which would other- 
 
LORD CLIVE 259 
 
 wise have been brought to light and remedied. The 
 welfare of this great Company should be the sole study • 
 of a Governor ; attached to that point alone, his 
 measures could never be thwarted by the malice of 
 opposition, because they would all be proposed for the 
 public good ; and actions will always be justified or 
 condemned from the principles on which they are 
 founded. 
 
 'Such a state of independency and honour must 
 be highly eligible to a Governor ; and in my opinion 
 it can only be acquired by cutting off all possibility 
 of his benefiting himself either by trade, or by that 
 influence which his power necessarily gives him in 
 these opulent provinces. 
 
 'I therefore propose that the Governor shall in 
 the most public manner, in the presence of all the 
 Company's servants, the mayor and aldermen, and 
 free merchants, assemble at the mayor's court, take 
 the oath and execute the penalty bond annexed. 
 
 ' The consideration I have proposed is, one and one- 
 eighth per cent, upon the revenues ; excepting those 
 arising from the Company's own lands at Calcutta, 
 Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong. 
 
 ' Although by these means a Governor will not be 
 able to amass a fortune of a million or half a million 
 in the space of two or three years, yet he will 
 acquire a very handsome independency, and be in 
 that very situation which a man of nice honour and 
 true zeal for the service would wish to possess. Thus 
 
26o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 situated, he may defy all opposition in Council : he 
 will have nothing to ask, nothing to propose, but 
 what he means for the advantage of his employers ; 
 he may defy the law, because there can be no 
 foundation for a bill of discovery ; and he may 
 defy the obloquy of the world, because there can 
 be nothing censurable in his conduct. In short, if 
 stability can be insured to such a Government as 
 this, where riches have been acquired in abundance, 
 in a small space of time, by all ways and means, and 
 by men with or without capacities, it must be effected 
 by a Governor thus restricted, and I shall think it 
 an honour, if my proposal be approved, to set the 
 first example.' 
 
 In the bond herein mentioned, and which I executed, 
 was inserted a penalty of ,^150,000 : ^^50,000 of which 
 was to go to the informer, and ^^ 100,000 to the 
 Company, if the Governor should be convicted 
 of having benefited himself, directly or indirectly, 
 beyond that commission. In addition to this was 
 an oath to the same purport, and of as solemn 
 a nature as could be devised. There were a few 
 necessary exceptions in the bond and in the oath. 
 The common interest for money was permitted to 
 be received till remittances could be obtained. The 
 purchase of diamonds for remittance to England 
 was allowed, and such presents as might be received 
 under the new covenants were also allowed. But 
 of this last exception I did not avail myself; for after 
 
LORD CLIVE 261 
 
 I had executed the bond, every, the most trifling, 
 present, even to the value of 6d., was brought to the 
 Company's credit. 
 
 A circumstance of allegation against me is brought 
 from a letter I w^rote to the Court of Directors 
 before I went abroad, in which I had expressed 
 my disapprobation of the commission of two and a 
 half per cent, that had been granted to Governor 
 Vansittart on the Company's territorial possessions, 
 notwithstanding which I had received a commission 
 of one and one-eighth myself. The case was this : the 
 Court of Directors did not think proper to restrain 
 Mr Vansittart in any respect or degree. He executed 
 no penalty bond. He took no restricted oath. He 
 had unlimited liberty to receive presents, to trade 
 to any amount ; and he had this commission of two 
 and a half per cent, on the Company's territorial 
 possessions into the bargain ; in short, he was at 
 liberty to make what fortune he pleased. Now, the 
 commission of one and one-eighth per cent, which I 
 received was an establishment proposed not only for 
 myself, but for all future governors in lieu of every- 
 thing, in consequence of giving up every emolument 
 whatsoever that might be made in that station. The 
 Court of Directors, so far from disapproving of this 
 commission, continued it to my successor. 
 
 Another charge is, that I took to myself these 
 advantages arising from the salt trade, and the one 
 and one-eighth commission, although I had declared 
 
262 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 in the letter which I have just alluded to that I had 
 no interested motives in accepting the government. 
 With w^hat justice this can be alleged against me, 
 the House may immediately determine. 
 
 I carried out three gentlemen with me. These 
 gentlemen I certainly meant to serve, but I meant to 
 serve them in a way that should be honourable for 
 themselves and honourable for me, and that should 
 at the same time be consistent with the interest of 
 the Company. One was Mr Maskelyne, a relation 
 of mine. A friendship commenced between us in 
 our early years. We began life together. We 
 were both of us writers in the Company's service 
 in the year 1745 ; we were both made prisoners in 
 Madras, when it was taken by M. La Bourdonnais ; 
 we made our escape together ; we then entered 
 into the military service together as ensigns ; we 
 served together at the siege of Pondicherry ; we went 
 into the field together ; but our fates were very 
 different ; he was a second time taken prisoner. This 
 misfortune put a stop to all his prospects, whilst I 
 went on in a career of success. He continued in 
 the civil and military service till he was of the rank 
 of Council, and after fifteen years' service in India, 
 was obliged by ill health to return to his native 
 country, not worth ;^3000 in the world. I thought 
 him entitled to some share of my affluence, but what 
 I did for him was not sufficient to make his circum- 
 stances perfectly independent ; for these reasons I 
 
LORD CLIVE 263 
 
 took him with me on my last expedition. Another 
 gentleman was my secretary, now a member of this 
 House. He was recommended to me by one of the 
 greatest men in the kingdom, now no more, Mr 
 Grenville. Many and great are the obligations I 
 have been under to him, but the greatest of all the 
 obligations was his having recommended me to this 
 gentleman. Without his abilities and indefatigable 
 industry, I could never have gone through my great 
 and arduous undertaking, and in serving me he 
 served the Company. The third gentleman was Mr 
 Ingham, a surgeon, who quitted a profession of some 
 hundreds a year to accompany me to Bengal, 
 
 I stood in a particular point of view ; my situation 
 was nice and critical ; the eyes of the whole settle- 
 ment were upon me. It was difficult for me to take 
 any steps with regard to those gentlemen without 
 being condemned. They had executed no covenants ; 
 I might have suiFered them to receive presents to any 
 amount : the world would then have said that I 
 carried them out with me in order to evade my own 
 covenants, and to receive presents for me, as well 
 as for themselves. I might have granted them the 
 privilege of trade, the advantage of which, under my 
 favour and credit, might have been to any amount. 
 The objection to this also was obvious : it would have 
 been said that my own interest was at the bottom ; 
 that they traded under my influence ; and that the 
 extent of their concerns interfered with persons who 
 
264 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 had a better right. It was therefore determined that 
 they should not benefit themselves a farthing but by 
 what they should receive from my hands. 
 
 My share, as Governor, in the salt society, and also 
 the manner in which it was disposed of, were publicly 
 known both here and abroad before my return to 
 England ; and yet this latter has of late been con- 
 sidered as something clandestine. But I think I can 
 prove to the satisfaction of this House that it was 
 known to everybody. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1767, a General Court 
 was called for the purpose of rewarding my services. 
 A continuation of ten years of the Jagir was proposed. 
 In opposition to this, some people urged that I was 
 benefiting myself largely abroad. A friend of mine, 
 an hon. member of this House, hereupon read to the 
 Court an extract from a letter he had received from 
 me upon that subject. Before the question was 
 balloted for, he printed this letter in handbills, and 
 also published it repeatedly in all the newspapers. I 
 have one of them, which was printed at that time, 
 now in my hands, and with permission will read it. 
 
 ' That his lordship has been adding to his fortune 
 abroad is most untrue ; his friends defy the bitterest 
 of his enemies to support the charge. A solemn 
 asseveration in that respect from Lord Clive himself 
 was read in Court by the friends to whom Lord Clive 
 had addressed his letter ; and it is now submitted to 
 print in order to discredit assertions which are false ; 
 
LORD CLIVE 265 
 
 or else to remain in public testimony against his 
 lordship.' 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Lord Clive, dated 
 Calcutta, 30th September 1765. 
 
 ' That you may assert with confidence the justice 
 of my cause, I do declare, by the God who made me, 
 it is my absolute determination to refuse every present 
 of consequence, and that I will not return to England 
 with one rupee more than what arises from my 
 Jaglr. My profits arising from salt shall be divided 
 among those friends who have endangered their lives 
 and constitutions in attending me. The congratula- 
 tory nazzars, etc., shall be set opposite to my extra- 
 ordinary expenses ; and if aught remains, it shall go 
 to Poplar or some other hospital.' 
 
 In Mr Bolts' book is a copy of a bond, by which 
 it appears that I sold my concern in salt for ^^32,000. 
 I do acknowledge there is such a bond, but the sum 
 actually received by me on that account amounted 
 only to about ^^ 10,800. The fact was this : I could 
 not think of suffering the three before-mentioned 
 gentlemen who had accompanied me to India to 
 return to England without realising something on 
 their account ; I said so to my friends in Bengal, 
 The salt concern was of a very extensive, tedious 
 nature, and the accounts might not be made up in 
 some years. Could I, in honour, leave those gentle- 
 men in a situation which made it doubtful when they 
 
266 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 should receive anything, and to what amount ? I 
 told them I would not : I told them I would get 
 rid of this salt concern at once, that they might be 
 secure of the money amongst them. I therefore 
 disposed of my whole concern in salt, even my share 
 for the second year, which was just commenced, for 
 the sum mentioned in the bond. But when the mode 
 of a commission of one and one-eighth per cent, on 
 the revenues was settled for the Governor in lieu of 
 every other emolument, I then relinquished my share 
 in salt for that year (the second year) in which I was 
 to receive the commission, and had paid back about 
 ^^20,000 of the ^32,000. 
 
 It now remains, Sir, for me to show that my own 
 interest was not the motive of my going to India. 
 
 I have here an account of every sixpence I received 
 or disbursed from the day of my leaving England to 
 the day of my return. It is taken from my books, 
 which were kept all the time I was in India by Mr 
 Verelst, who will readily attest their accuracy. I 
 omit the first part of this account, because it was 
 transmitted to the Court of Directors, and stands 
 upon record in the India House. The other part I 
 will read. The House will observe that in this 
 account there are the names of others whom I 
 rewarded besides the gentlemen I have mentioned. 
 One was an old servant who went out with me ; and 
 the others were young gentlemen in my secretary's 
 office. 
 
LORD CLTVE 267 
 
 The balance against me, upon the whole, is 
 £^Si6,^ Now, sir, I have no objection to having 
 this account lodged among the records of this House, 
 that it may stand in judgment for or against me if 
 future Commissioners, either on the part of the Crown 
 or the East India Company, should ever think a 
 retrospection into my conduct necessary. 
 
 There is only one circumstance more with which 
 I shall trouble the House ; and I do assure them I 
 should be ashamed to touch upon it, as it may carry 
 with it an appearance of vanity, were not my honour 
 and reputation so much at stake. It was in my 
 power to have taken from my enemies every shadow 
 of pretence for arraigning my conduct, on account of 
 these profits, as they have been called, of my Govern- 
 ment. I could have rewarded those gentlemen much 
 more liberally without the possibility of an accusa- 
 tion. But I should not have acted so much to my 
 own satisfaction, nor, I believe, so much to that of 
 the House, if I had neglected the opportunity that 
 offered of doing something essentially beneficial to 
 the East India's Company's service. 
 
 The old Nawib, Mir Jafar, if ever Mussulman had 
 a friendship for a Christian, had a friendship for me. 
 When the news of my appointment to the govern- 
 
 • It has not been thought necessary to insert the iigured statement in 
 this Appendix. It clearly shows that Clive, instead of having added to 
 his fortune during his last administration of Bengal, was a loser to the 
 extent of ;£'58i6. 
 
268 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 meiit reached Bengal, he immediately quitted Muxa- 
 davad,' came down to Calcutta, impatiently waited 
 my arrival for six weeks, fell ill, returned to his 
 capital, and died. Two or three days before his death, 
 in the presence of his wife, and in the presence of his 
 Minister, he said to his son and successor, ' Whatever 
 you think proper to give to Lord Clive on your own 
 account, the means are in your power. But, as a 
 testimony of my affection for him, I desire you will 
 pay to him as a legacy from me five lakhs of rupees.' 
 I must observe that the Nawib's death happened 
 whilst I was on my voyage, and some months before 
 my arrival in Bengal. The principal and interest 
 amounted to near j^jo,ooo. A very respectable 
 gentleman and great lawyer, who is now the Speaker 
 of this honourable House, gave his opinion in favour 
 of my right to this legacy in the strongest terms ; 
 another great lawyer, a member of this House, has 
 often declared to me in private his opinion of my 
 right ; and the Court of Directors have themselves 
 confirmed that right. Authentic attestations of this 
 legacy are upon record in the India House. The 
 whole of the money, added to about ^^ 40,000 more, 
 which I prevailed on the Nawab to bestow, is estab- 
 lished for a military fund in support of officers and 
 soldiers who may be invalided in any part of India, 
 and also in support of their widows. Nothing was 
 
 ' This seems to have been the name in those days of the town 
 commonly and correctly called ' Murshidabad.* 
 
LORD CLIVE 269 
 
 wanting but such an establishment as this to make 
 the East India Company's military service the best 
 service in the world. Before that period, an indigent 
 invalid oiEcer and soldier might live in India, but if 
 he returned to his native country he returned to 
 beggary. By this fund the officers are entitled to 
 half pay ; the soldiers are upon the same footing as 
 those in Chelsea Hospital ; and the widows of both 
 officers and soldiers have pensions. 
 
 Having encroached so long upon the patience of 
 the House, I doubt whether I may now expect their 
 further indulgence, or whether I must defer what I 
 have to say upon this important business till a future 
 occasion. 
 
 (House- — Go on, go on.) 
 
 But before I proceed, I must beg leave to deviate 
 a little into a digression on behalf of the Company's 
 servants in general. It is dictated by humanity, by 
 justice and by truth. 
 
 Indostan was always an absolute despotic govern- 
 ment. The inhabitants, especially of Bengal, in 
 inferior stations, are servile, mean, submissive and 
 humble. In superior stations they are luxurious, 
 effeminate, tyrannical, treacherous, venal, cruel. The 
 country of Bengal is called, by way of distinction, 
 the paradise of the earth. It not only abounds with 
 the necessaries of life to such a degree as to furnish 
 a great part of India with its superfluity, but it 
 abounds in very curious and valuable manufactures, 
 
270 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 sufficient not only for its own use, but for the use 
 of the whole globe. The silver of the west and the 
 gold of the east have for many years been pouring 
 into that country, and goods only have been sent 
 out in return. This has added to the luxury and 
 extravagance of Bengal. 
 
 From time immemorial it has been the custom of 
 that country for an inferior never to come into the 
 presence of a superior without a present. It begins 
 at the Nawdb, and ends at the lowest man that has an 
 inferior. The Nawdb has told me that the small 
 presents he received amounted to ^300,000 a year ; 
 and I can believe him, because I know that I might 
 have received as much during my last government. 
 The Company's servants have ever been accustomed 
 to receive presents. Even before we took part in the 
 country troubles, when our possessions were very 
 confined and limited, the Governor and others used 
 to receive presents ; and I will take upon me to 
 assert that there has not been an officer commanding 
 His Majesty's fleet, nor an officer commanding 
 His Majesty's army, not a Governor, not a member 
 of Council, not any other person, civil or military, in 
 such a station as to have connection with the country 
 government, who has not received presents. With 
 regard to Bengal, there they flow in abundance 
 indeed. Let the House figure to itself a country 
 consisting of fifteen millions of inhabitants, a revenue or 
 four millions sterling, and a trade in proportion. By 
 
LORD CLIVE 271 
 
 progressive steps the Company have become the 
 sovereigns of that empire. Can it be supposed that 
 their servants will refrain from advantages so ob- 
 viously resulting from their situation ? The Com- 
 pany's servants, however, have not been the authors 
 of those acts of violence and oppression of which it 
 is the fashion to accuse them. Such crimes are 
 committed by the natives of the country acting as 
 their agents, and for the most part without their 
 knowledge. Those agents, and the banyans, never 
 desist till, according to the ministerial phrase, they 
 have dragged their masters into the kennel ; and 
 then the acts of violence begin. The passion for 
 gain is as strong as the passion of love. I will 
 suppose that two intimate friends have lived long 
 together ; that one of them has married a beautiful 
 woman ; that the friend still continues to live in the 
 house, and that this beautiful woman, forgetting her 
 duty to her husband, attempts to seduce the friend, 
 who, though in the vigour of his youth, may, from 
 a high principle of honour, at first resist the tempta- 
 tion, and even rebuke the lady. But if he still 
 continues to live under the same roof, and she still 
 continues to throw out her allurements, he must 
 be seduced at last or fly. Now the banyan is the 
 fair lady to the Company's servants. He lays his bags 
 of silver before him to-day ; gold to-morrow ; jewels 
 the next day ; and if these fail, he then tempts him 
 in the way of his profession, which is trade. He 
 
272 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 assures him that goods may be had cheap, and sold 
 to great advantage up the country. In this manner 
 is the attack carried on ; and the Company's servant 
 has no resource, for he cannot fly. In short, flesh 
 and blood cannot bear it. Let us for a moment 
 consider the nature of the education of a young man 
 who goes to India. The advantages arising from the 
 Company's service are now very generally known ; 
 and the great object of every man is to get his son 
 appointed a writer to Bengal, which is usually at the 
 age of sixteen. His parents and relations represent to 
 him how certain he is of making a fortune ; that my 
 Lord Such-a-one, and my Lord Such-a-one, acquired 
 so much money in such a time ; and Mr Such-a-one, 
 and Mr Such-a-one, so much in such a time. Thus 
 are their principles corrupted at their very setting out, 
 and as they generally go a good many together, they 
 inflame one another's expectations to such a degree, in 
 the course of the voyage, that they fix upon a period 
 for their return before their arrival. 
 
 Let us now take a view of one of these writers 
 arrived in Bengal, and not worth a groat. As soon as 
 he lands, a banyan, worth perhaps j^i 00,000, desires 
 he may have the honour of serving this young 
 gentleman at 4s. 6d. per month. The Company 
 has provided chambers for him, but they are not good 
 enough ; the banyan finds better. The young man 
 takes a walk about the town ; he observes that other 
 writers, arrived only .i year before him, live in splendid 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 273 
 
 apartments or have houses of their own, ride upon 
 fine prancing Arabian horses, and in palanqueens and 
 chaises ; that they keep seraglios, make entertain- 
 ments, and treat with champagne and claret. When 
 he returns, he tells the banyan what he has observed. 
 The banyan assures him he may soon arrive at the 
 same good fortune ; he furnishes him with money ; 
 he is then at his mercy. The advantages of the 
 banyan advance with the rank of his master, who in 
 acquiring one fortune generally spends three. But 
 this is not the worst of it ; he is in a state of 
 dependence under the banyan, who commits such acts 
 of violence and oppression as his interest prompts 
 him to, under the pretended sanction and authority 
 of the Company's servant. Hence, Sir, arises the 
 clamour against the English gentlemen in India. 
 But look at them in a retired situation, when returned 
 to England, when they are no longer Nawibs and 
 sovereigns of the East ; see if there be anything 
 tyrannical in their disposition towards their inferiors ; 
 see if they are not good and humane masters. Are 
 they not charitable ? Are they not benevolent ? 
 Are they not generous ? Are they not hospitable ? 
 If they are, thus far, not contemptible members of 
 society, and if in all their dealings between man and 
 man their conduct is strictly honourable, if, in short, 
 there has not yet been one character found amongst 
 them sufficiently flagitious for Mr Foote to exhibit 
 on the theatre in the Haymarket, may we not con- 
 
274 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 elude that if they have erred, it has been because 
 they were men placed in situations subject to little 
 or no control ? 
 
 But if the servants of the Company are to be loaded 
 with the demerit of every misfortune in India, let 
 them also have the merit they are entitled to. The 
 Court of Directors surely will not claim to themselves 
 the merit of those advantages which the nation and 
 the Company are at present in possession of. The 
 officers of the navy and army have had great share 
 in the execution ; but the Company's servants were 
 the cabinet council, who planned everything ; and to 
 them also may be ascribed some part of the merit 
 of our great acquisitions. 
 
 I will now pass to other matter — matter as import- 
 ant as ever came before the House. India yields at 
 present a clear produce to the public and to in- 
 dividuals of between two and three millions sterling 
 per annum. If this object should be lost, what can 
 Administration substitute in the room of it ? I 
 tremble when I think of the risk we lately ran from 
 the ambitious designs of the French. They may 
 have suspended for a time their views upon India, 
 but I am sure they have not given them up. It is 
 strongly reported they have at this moment io,ooo 
 men at the islands,' and a great number of transports ; 
 these men are not to return to France, and yet the 
 islands cannot maintain them ; but at Madagascar 
 
 ^ The islands referred to are Mauritius and Bourbon. 
 
LORD CLIVE 275 
 
 they may possess themselves of a country capable of 
 supporting any number. This they certainly will do, 
 and their forces, instead of decreasing, will increase 
 by additional battalions poured out from France, 
 until they are ready to carry into execution their 
 favourite design. The noble lord at the head of the 
 Treasury will do me the justice to say that I laid 
 before him a paper, drawn up fifteen months ago, 
 in which I stated almost everything that has since 
 happened relating to the views of France upon the 
 East Indies. It was indeed impossible for me to be 
 deceived, knowing the preparations that had been 
 made. 
 
 If ever France should lay hold of our possessions, 
 she will soon add to them all the rest of the East 
 Indies. The other European nations there will im- 
 mediately fall before her — not even the Dutch can 
 stand ; the empire of the sea will follow ; thus will 
 her acquisitions in the East, if any can, give her 
 universal monarchy, I repeat, and I would have what 
 I say remembered, that the French have not given 
 up their designs upon India. 
 
 But danger abroad being for the present suspended, 
 let us think of the danger at home. 
 
 It is certain that our affairs in Bengal are in a very 
 deplorable condition, and that the nation cannot 
 receive their j^ 400,000, and the Proprietors their 
 j^200,ooo 'increase of dividend, much longer, if some- 
 thing be not done. 
 
276 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 It is necessary, since these affairs are brought before 
 Parliament, that we should endeavour to understand 
 them. There are a few material points which I 
 will state as clearly as I can. The revenues, the 
 inland trade, the charges civil and military, and 
 the public trade, by which I mean the trade of the 
 Company. 
 
 Upon the receipt of the revenues depend the 
 ^^400,000 a year to Government, and the ^^200,000 
 a year additional dividend to the Proprietors ; and 
 upon the Company's or public trade depends the 
 coming home of the revenues. 
 
 There are no mines of gold and silver in Bengal, 
 therefore the revenues can be brought hither only 
 through the medium of the Company's trade. 
 
 Upon the civil and military expenses depends whether 
 we shall have any surplus revenue at all ; for if they are 
 swelled up too high, you can receive no revenues. 
 Upon the inland trade depends in some degree the 
 receipt of the revenues. Upon the inland trade 
 depends almost totally the happiness and prosperity 
 of the people. Indeed, the true cause of the distress 
 in Bengal, as far as it relates to the inland trade, 
 is this. The Company's servants and their agents 
 have taken into their own hands the whole of that 
 trade, which they have carried on in a capacity before 
 unknown ; for they have traded not only as merchants, 
 but as sovereigns, and by grasping at the whole of 
 the inland trade, have taken the .bread out of the 
 
LORD CLIVE 277 
 
 mouths of thousands and thousands of merchants 
 who used formerly to carry on that trade, and who 
 are now reduced to beggary. 
 
 With regard to the public trade, it is material to 
 observe what it has been and what it now is. Here 
 is an account of the prime costs of the Company's 
 investments from Bengal for seven years preceding 
 the acquisition of the Diwdni, and for seven years 
 subsequent, together with the number of ships 
 employed. 
 
 {It has not been thought necessary to insert here the 
 figured statements which are referred to.) 
 
 This account must be exact, because I had the 
 whole of it from the India House particulars of the 
 last year, which the Court of Directors are not yet 
 in possession of. But I cannot doubt their authenti- 
 city, as I received them from a gentleman in Council 
 at Bengal. 
 
 The House will observe that the gross collections 
 have not decreased considerably till the year 1770, 
 which was the year of the famine ; but that the civil 
 and military expenses have been gradually increasing 
 ever since I left Bengal, which was in the beginning 
 of the year 1767. And here lies the danger. The 
 evil is not so much in the revenues falling short as in 
 the expenses increasing. The best means of raising 
 the revenues is to reduce the civil and military charges. 
 Why should we strive at an actual increase of the 
 revenues ? They avail nothing unless we can invest 
 
278 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 them ; and to raise them beyond a certain point is 
 to distress the country, and to reduce to indigence 
 numbers who from time immemorial have derived 
 their subsistence from them. 
 
 With regard to the increase of the expenses, I take 
 the case to stand thus. Before the Company became 
 possessed of the Divv^dni, their agents had other wrays 
 of making fortunes. Presents w^ere open to them. 
 They are nowr at an end. It was expedient for them 
 to find some other channel — the channel of the civil 
 and military charges. Every man now who is per- 
 mitted to make a bill makes a fortune. 
 
 It is not the simple pay of officers and men 
 upon the mihtary and civil establishment which 
 occasions our enormous expense, but the contingent 
 bills of contractors, commissaries, engineers, etc., 
 out of which, I am sure, great savings might be 
 made. These intolerable expenses have alarmed 
 the Directors, and persuaded them to come to 
 Parliament for assistance. And, if I mistake not, 
 they will soon go to Administration, and tell them 
 they cannot pay the j^ 400,000, and that they must 
 lower the dividend to the Proprietors. 
 
 I attribute the present situation of our affairs to 
 four causes : a relaxation of government in my suc- 
 cessors ; great neglect on the part of Administration ; 
 notorious misconduct on the part of the Directors ; 
 and the violent and outrageous proceedings of 
 General Courts, in which I include contested elections. 
 
LORD CLIVE 279 
 
 Mr Verelst, who succeeded me in the government, 
 I do believe to be a man of as much real worth and 
 honour as ever existed ; and so far from being want- 
 ing in humanity, as Mr Bolts asserts, I know that 
 he had too much humanity. Humanity, if I may be 
 allowed the expression, has been his ruin. If he 
 had had less, it would have been better for the 
 nation, better for the Company, better for the 
 natives, and better for himself. No man came to 
 the government with a fairer character, and not- 
 withstanding what I have said, I am conscious no 
 man ever left it with a fairer. He acted upon 
 principles of disinterestedness from beginning to 
 end : and let the Directors, if they can, tell me 
 where I could have laid my finger upon a fitter 
 man. But the truth is, he governed with too 
 lenient a hand. The too great tenderness of his 
 disposition I saw and dreaded. Nothing was want- 
 ing on my part to prompt him to pursue vigorous 
 measures. Nor did I confine myself to verbal 
 advice only. I gave it in writing before I resigned 
 the government. The House will permit me to 
 read to them my sentiments upon that occasion. 
 They are contained in my farewell letter to the 
 Select Committee, wherein I forewarned them of 
 almost every misfortune that has since happened. 
 The whole thing is too long to trouble the House 
 with. I shall therefore read only that part of it 
 which relates to the present subject. 
 
28o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ' Extract from my Farewell Letter to the Select 
 Committee, dated 1 6th January 1767. 
 
 'The reformation proposed by the Committee of 
 Inspection will, I hope, be duly attended to. It has 
 been too much the custom in this government to 
 make orders and regulations, and thence to suppose 
 the business done. To what end and purpose are 
 they made, if they be not promulgated and enforced ? 
 No regulation can be carried into execution, no 
 order obeyed, if you do not make rigorous examples 
 of the disobedient. Upon this point I rest the 
 welfare of the Company in Bengal. The servants 
 are now brought to a proper sense of their duty ; 
 if you slacken the reins of government, affairs will 
 soon revert to their former channel, and anarchy 
 and corruption will again prevail, and, elate with 
 a new victory, be too headstrong for any future 
 efforts of government. Recall to your memories 
 the many attempts that have been made in the 
 civil and military departments to overcome our 
 authority, and to set up a kind of independency 
 against the Court of Directors. Reflect also on 
 the resolute measures we have pursued, and their 
 wholesome effects. Disobedience to legal power is 
 the first step to sedition ; and palliative remedies 
 effect no cure. Every tender compliance, every 
 condescension on your parts will only encourage 
 more flagrant attacks, which will increase in 
 
LORD CLIVE 281 
 
 strength daily, and be at last in vain resisted. 
 Much of our time has been employed in correcting 
 abuses. The important work has been prosecuted 
 with zeal, diligence and disinterestedness, and we 
 have had the happiness to see our labours crowned 
 with success. I leave the country in peace ; I leave 
 the civil and military departments under discipline 
 and subordination ; it is incumbent upon you to 
 keep them so. You have power, you have abilities, 
 you have integrity ; let it not be said that you are 
 deficient in resolution. I repeat that you must 
 not fail to exact the most implicit obedience to 
 your orders. Dismiss or suspend from the service 
 any man who shall dare to dispute your authority. 
 If you deviate from the principles upon which we 
 have hitherto acted, and upon which you are 
 conscious you ought to proceed, or if you do 
 not make a proper use of that power with 
 which you are invested, I shall hold myself ac- 
 quitted, as I do now protest against the conse- 
 quences.' 
 
 It is certain that, if my successor had followed 
 my example and advice, the evil day would have 
 been kept off some time longer. But had he kept 
 the tightest rein, he could not have done much 
 service to the Company, for neither he nor any 
 man could have long guarded against the mischiefs 
 occasioned by the Directors themselves, when they 
 took away the powers of the Select Committee. 
 
282 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 The Company had acquired an empire more 
 extensive than any kingdom in Europe, France 
 and Russia excepted. They had acquired a revenue 
 of four millions sterling, and a trade in proportion. 
 It was natural to suppose that such an object 
 would have merited the most serious attention of 
 Administration ; that in concert vs^ith the Court of 
 Directors they would have considered the nature of 
 the Company's charter, and have adopted a plan 
 adequate to such possessions. Did they take it 
 into consideration ? No, they did not. They 
 treated it rather as a South Sea bubble than as 
 anything solid and substantial ; they thought of 
 nothing but the present time, regardless of the 
 future. They said, let us get what we can 
 to-day, let to-morrow take care for itself; they 
 thought of nothing but the immediate division of 
 the loaves and fishes ; nay, so anxious were they to 
 lay their hands upon some immediate advantage 
 that they actually went so far as to influence a 
 parcel of temporary Proprietors to bully the Directors 
 into their terms. It was their duty. Sir, to have 
 called upon the Directors for a plan ; and if a 
 plan, in consequence, had not been laid before 
 them, it would then have become their duty, with 
 the aid and assistance of Parliament, to have formed 
 one themselves. If Administration had done their 
 duty, we should not now have heard a speech from 
 the throne, intimating the necessity of parliamentary 
 
LORD CLIVE 283 
 
 interposition to save our possessions in India from 
 impending ruin. 
 
 The next point is the misconduct on the part of 
 the Court of Directors. 
 
 After the Court of Directors had in the highest 
 terms approved of the conduct of that Committee 
 who restored tranquillity to Bengal ; who had restored 
 a government of anarchy and confusion to good 
 order ; who had made a peace with Sujah Daulah, 
 by which they obtained upwards of ^^600,000 for 
 the Company ; who had quelled both a civil and a 
 military mutiny ; who had re-established discipline 
 and subordination in the army ; who had obtained 
 the Diwdni of Bengal, Behdr and Orissa, which 
 produced to the Company a net income of 
 ;^ 1,300,000; who had paid ofF the greatest part 
 of a bond debt in Bengal, amounting to near 
 j^900,000 ; who had left the treasury in such a 
 flowing state that they drew few or no bills upon 
 the Company at home ; who laid the foundation 
 of investments so large as were never before known 
 or heard of; and who had by these means enabled 
 the Company to assist Government with ^f 400,000 
 a year, and to make an increase of dividend to the 
 stockholders of ^200,000, one would imagine that 
 the Court of Directors would have supported a 
 system of government which had been so very 
 successful. But they acted upon very different 
 principles; they dropped the prosecutions against 
 
284 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 those gentlemen in Bengal whose conduct the 
 Committee had censured and fully represented. 
 Thus they gave a stab to their own vitals. From 
 that instant they destroyed their own power abroad, 
 and erased from the minds of their servants in India 
 every wholesome regulation which the Committee had 
 established. The servants abroad were in anxious 
 suspense to learn whether they were punishable or 
 not for misconduct. The lenity or weakness of the 
 Court of Directors removed their doubts. From 
 that instant all covenants were forgotten, or only 
 looked upon as so many sheets of blank paper ; 
 and from that instant began that relaxation of 
 government so much now complained of, and so 
 much still to be dreaded. 
 
 Their next step was to destroy the powers of that 
 Committee whose conduct they had with reason so 
 highly approved of. They divided the powers ; they 
 gave half to the Council, and left the other half with 
 the Committee. The consequence was, the Council 
 and Committee became distracted by altercations and 
 disputes for power, and have ever since been at 
 variance, to the great detriment of the service. 
 The Court of Directors, as if this was not enough, 
 restored to the service almost every civil and military 
 transgressor who had been dismissed ; nay, they re- 
 warded some of them by allowing them a continuation 
 of their rank all the time they were in England. And 
 now, as a condemnation of their own conduct and a 
 
LORD CLIVE 285 
 
 tacit confession of their own weakness, they come to 
 Parliament with a Bill of Regulations, in which is 
 inserted a clause to put such practices as much as 
 possible out of their power for the future. 
 
 With regard to General Courts, I believe I need 
 not dwell long on the consequences of them. Their 
 violent proceedings have been subversive of the 
 authority of the Court of Directors. The agents 
 abroad have known this ; they have therefore never 
 scrupled to set the orders of the Court of Directors 
 at defiance when it was their interest to disobey 
 them, and they have escaped punishment by means 
 of the over-awing interests of individuals at General 
 Courts. Thus have General Courts co-operated with 
 the Court of Directors in the mischiefs that have 
 arisen in Bengal ; whilst annual contested elections 
 have, in a manner, deprived the Directors of the power 
 of establishing any authority over their servants. 
 The first half of the year is employed in freeing 
 themselves from the obligations contracted by their 
 last elections ; and the second half is wasted in in- 
 curring new obligations, and securing their election 
 for the next year, by daily sacrifices of some interest 
 of the Company. The Direction, notwithstanding all 
 these manoeuvres, has been so fluctuating and unsettled 
 that new and contradictory orders have been frequently 
 sent out ; and the servants (who, to say the truth, 
 have generally understood the interest of the Com- 
 pany much better than the Directors) have in many 
 
2 86 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 instances followed their own opinion, in opposition 
 to theirs. 
 
 It is not my intention at present to trouble the 
 House with the remedies for these evils. I rather 
 choose to defer them till the Bill come into the 
 House. I have now opened my budget ; it is not 
 a ministerial budget : it is an East India budget, 
 which contains many precious stones, diamonds, 
 rubies, etc., of the first water and magnitude ; and 
 there wants only a skilful jeweller and able artist 
 to polish them and ascertain their real value. 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 Lord Clive's speech in the House of Commons on 
 the 19th May 1773, on the order of the day, to take 
 into further consideration the reports of the Select 
 and Secret Committees appointed to inquire into the 
 affairs of the East India Company : — 
 
 Sir, after rendering my country the services 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 for the 
 particular and advantageous emolument of the East 
 India Company, I little thought transactions of this 
 kind would have agitated the minds of my country- 
 men in such proceedings as these, 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 my reputation. The 
 House will not think me, I hope, fraught with any 
 degree of vanity when I repeat again that I have done 
 services to my country. 
 
 I must now beg leave to say a few words relative to 
 the presents which I am charged with receiving un- 
 warrantably. I must beg leave to observe to the 
 
 287 
 
288 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 House that presents were allowed and received from 
 the earliest time of the Direction. They have con- 
 tinued to be received uninterruptedly for the space of 
 150 years ; and men, Sir, who have sat in the Direction 
 themselves have at several times received presents. 
 This the Direction must know ; but I am firmly of 
 opinion that in honourable cases presents are not 
 improper to be received ; but when for dishonourable 
 purposes, then, Sir, I hold them to be highly improper. 
 In the early part of my life, my labours were without 
 emolument or laurels, and I hope the House cannot 
 think but that I ought to be rewarded for my services 
 to my country in the latter part of it. When I was 
 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 Nawibs looked with a jealous eye upon the small 
 privileges and possessions they then enjoyed, and 
 though small, in danger every day of being wrested 
 from them. Fear and weakness of power sought for 
 protection from the dangers that surrounded them. 
 In this critical situation I was called forth, and it 
 pleased God to make me the instrument of their 
 delivery. In the various battles and attacks in 
 which I was employed, I had the good fortune to 
 succeed ; nor were such schemes or undertakings 
 entered upon without the previous provocation of 
 the country powers. The treachery of Surdj ud 
 Daulah was for ever in our eye, and his perfidy 
 
LORD CLIVE 289 
 
 was never at rest ; nor did we attack Chandernagore 
 till the treaty on his behalf was first violated. 
 
 After these conquests, Sir, and acquisitions gained 
 for the Company, I returned home. They approved 
 in the highest degree of what I have done ; and 
 as a tolcen of their approbation, they presented me 
 with a rich sword set with diamonds. This, certainly, 
 Sir, was no mark of their opinion that I had either 
 violated treaties or disobeyed their orders. Nor did 
 their commendation and good opinion of my services 
 terminate here. As soon as troubles broke out in 
 that country, and when the news of the terrible 
 disaster of the taking of Calcutta from us arrived 
 to the ear of the Company, they immediately sent 
 to me and requested that I would go once more to 
 India, to protect and secure their possessions ; that 
 my presence alone would effect it ; and they should 
 rest secured, through the good opinion they had of 
 me, that success would accompany me, and that 
 I should be the means of putting their affairs again 
 in a prosperous situation, I did not hesitate a moment 
 to accept the offer. I went abroad, resolving not 
 to benefit myself one single shilling on my return, 
 and I strictly and religiously adhered to it. When 
 I arrived there, I subdued Angria, a very powerful 
 prince, I re-took Calcutta with an inconsiderable 
 army. Surdj ud Daulah had at all times betrayed a 
 disposition to break the treaty ; and when an army 
 was sent under the command of M. Dupr^e, which 
 
 T 
 
zgo BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 might have proved fatal to us, I do not hesitate to 
 say that we bribed the general of that army, who 
 immediately wrote to the Nawdb to let him know 
 the English were invincible ; and, upon a second 
 request from the Nawdb to M. Duprde, that he would 
 march with his army and destroy the English, his 
 answer was couched in the same terms. He said 
 that he always found the English invincible, and 
 that it would have been the height of imprudence to 
 hazard an attack. By such means, and by this 
 stratagem, we succeeded. We soon discovered that 
 the Nawdb, Suraj ud Daulah, was so turbulent and 
 restless that he only waited for the departure of the 
 fleet to exterminate the English. But, as treacherous 
 men are too apt to have men of the same cast 
 and disposition about them, the Nawdb was not 
 wanting of such companions. Omichand, his con- 
 fidential servant, as he thought, told his master of 
 an agreement made between the English and M. 
 Dupr^e to attack him, and received for that advice 
 a sum of not less than four lakhs of rupees. Finding 
 this to be the man in whom the Nawdb entirely 
 trusted, it soon became our object to consider him 
 as a most material engine in the intended revolution. 
 We therefore make such an agreement as was 
 necessary for the purpose, and entered into a treaty 
 with him to satisfy his demands. When all things 
 were prepared, and the evening of the event was 
 appointed, Omichand informed Mr Watts, who was 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 291 
 
 at the court of the Nawib, that he insisted upon 
 thirty lakhs of rupees, and five per cent, upon all the 
 treasure that should be found ; that, unless that was 
 immediately complied with, he would disclose the 
 whole to the Nawdb ; and that Mr Watts, and the 
 two other English gentleman then at the court, 
 should be cut off before the morning. Mr Watts, 
 immediately on this information, despatched an 
 express to me at the Council. I did not hesitate 
 to find out a stratagem to save the lives of these 
 people, and secure success to the intended event. 
 For this purpose we signed another treaty. The one 
 was called the red, the other the white treaty. This 
 treaty was signed by everyone except Admiral 
 Watson ; and I should have considered myself 
 sufficiently authorised to put his name to it by the 
 conversation I had with him. As to the person who 
 signed Admiral Watson's name to the treaty, whether 
 he did it in his presence or not I cannot say, but 
 this I know, that he thought he had sufficient 
 authority for so doing. This treaty was immediately 
 sent to Omichand, who did not suspect the stratagem. 
 The event took place, and success attended it ; and 
 the House, I am fully persuaded, will agree with me 
 that, when the very existence of the Company was 
 at stake, and the lives of these people so precariously 
 situated, and so certain of being destroyed, it was a 
 matter of a true policy and of justice to deceive so 
 great a villain. I have in my hand, Sir, a letter signed 
 
292 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 by Admiral Watson, Messrs Manningham, Watts, 
 etc., which, I apprehend will carry Admiral Watson's 
 thorough approbation of the proceedings of the 
 revolution, and the means by which it was obtained. 
 (His lordship then read the letter, which conveyed 
 Admiral Watson's full approbation.) 
 
 Nor, Sir, great as my fortune is (and which bears 
 no proportion to what I might have made), yet, to 
 show that I did not harass or lay under contribution 
 those whom I have conquered for my own emolu- 
 ment, I can tell this House that neither I nor any- 
 one in my army received a sixpence from the 
 inhabitants of Muxadabad. My Jagfr was not 
 received till 1759, though it has been reported I 
 received it at the revolution in 1757. 
 
 I must beg leave to mention another circumstance 
 to this House ; that, upon these troubles, the Dutch 
 were encouraged by the Nawdb to enter the country 
 with seven ships and a vast army. I did not hesitate 
 a moment to give them battle ; and in twenty-four 
 hours I destroyed every ship they had, and their whole 
 army was either killed, wounded or taken prisoners. 
 At this time the Dutch had most of my money ; and 
 in this instance, I think, I showed a zeal for the 
 honour and interest of the Company superior to every 
 other object even of my own concerns. I must 
 now beg leave to read in the House two letters from 
 the Court of Directors to myself, containing their 
 approbation of the revolution in Bengal. These 
 
LORD CLIVE 293 
 
 letters, Sir, came not through the common channel 
 of address to the Governor and Council, but were 
 directed to myself. (His lordship then read the 
 letters, which contained the most full and satisfactory 
 approbation of what is termed in one of the letters 
 the late glorious and profitable revolution.) These, 
 Sir, are surely sufficient certificates of my behaviour 
 and the proceedings of that revolution ; and, what- 
 ever the House niay 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. 
 
 I am, however, sure that I shall have justice done 
 me by the inquiry of those men who are likely to be 
 appointed to go to India to regulate the affairs of that 
 country. Then, Sir, may come from that part of the 
 world a fiill justification of my conduct. Here I 
 must beg leave to read a part of my late speech. 
 (Here his lordship read a part of the letter and of his 
 speech, made on the 30th of March 1772, stating the 
 acquisitions he had obtained for the Company and the 
 public.) After these services, I thought at least I 
 might have enjoyed my fortune uninterrupted, and 
 unenvied by those not: so rich as myself. (Here his 
 lordship then read another letter from the Company, 
 
29+ BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 which contained in a stronger manner than any of the 
 preceding ones a full and ample commendation and 
 approbation of all his proceedings ; this etter was 
 directed to his lordship, and dated the 4th of March 
 1767.) 
 
 Upon my arrival, Sir, in England a second time, 
 a committee of the Directors waited upon me to 
 desire to know when I would receive the congratu- 
 lations of the Direction. I accordingly waited upon 
 them at their court in Leadenhall Street, and the 
 chairman, at a very full court, addressed me in the 
 words contained in this letter (which his lordship 
 read). These, Sir, 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 and 
 abilities I revere, would never have consented to the 
 resolutions that passed the other night if he had 
 thought on the dreadful consequences that would 
 attend them. 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 295 
 
 Sir, I cannot say that I either sit or rest easy when 
 I find by the extensive resolution proposed that all 
 I have in the world is to be confiscated, and that 
 no one will henceforward take my security for a 
 shilling. These, Sir, are dreadful apprehensions to 
 remain under, and I cannot look upon myself but 
 as a bankrupt ; nothing my own, and totally unable 
 to give any security while these resolutions are pend- 
 ing. Such, Sir, is the situation I am in. I have 
 not anything left which I can call my own except 
 my paternal fortune of ^^500 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 therein than in 
 the trembling affluence of an unsettled fortune. 
 
 But, Sir, I must make one more observation, that 
 if the definition of the hon. gentleman (General Bur- 
 goyne) and of this House is that the State, as expressed 
 in these resolutions, is quoad hoc the Company, 
 then, Sir, every farthing that I enjoy is granted to 
 me. But to be called, after sixteen years have elapsed, 
 to account for my conduct in this manner, and after 
 an uninterrupted enjoyment of my property, to have 
 been questioned and considered as obtaining it un- 
 warrantably, is hard indeed, and a treatment I should 
 not think the British Senate capable of. But if it 
 should be the case, I have a conscious innocence 
 within me that tells me my conduct is irreproach- 
 able. ' Frangas non Jlectes,' They may take from 
 
296 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 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 jhave done for the present. My 
 defence will be made at that bar, and 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. 
 
APPENDIX III 
 
 MR ELPHINSTONE's ESTIMATE OF CLIVE 
 
 (Given in the Preface to his '■Rise and Progress of 
 the British Power in the East,' p. 7.) 
 
 'The only chance of success in this part of the 
 history lies in stern impartiality, mixed with candour 
 and indulgence, towards all the parties concerned. 
 Measures must be discussed, serving no doubt to 
 illustrate the characters of the leading men of the 
 day, but more with a view to utility, and to pointing 
 out what objects are to be attained and what are 
 the sure means of ascertaining and promoting them. 
 
 ' This is the key to the treatment of Clive's char- 
 acter, commanding respect and admiration from its 
 great qualities, which feelings are painfully checked 
 by instances of duplicity and meanness. 
 
 'The impression he leaves is that of force and 
 grandeur ; a masculine understanding ; a fine judg- 
 ment ; an inflexible will ; little moved by real dangers, 
 and by arguments and menaces not at all. He exer- 
 cised a supreme control over those who shared his 
 counsels or executed his resolves. Men yielded to 
 
 a pressure which they knew could not be turned 
 
 297 
 
298 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 aside, and either partook of its impulse or were crushed 
 by its progress. 
 
 'Where overmatched by his enemies, he appears 
 in even greater grandeur. He meets the most for- 
 midable accusations with bold avowal and a confident 
 justification. He makes no attempt to soften his 
 enemies or conciliate the public, but stands on his 
 merits and services with a pride which in other cir- 
 cumstances would have been arrogance. 
 
 After acknowledging his errors, history presents 
 few great characters more blameless ( ? ) ' than that 
 of Clive. Though stern and imperious by nature, 
 his temper was proof against a thousand trials, and 
 in a life spent amidst scenes of blood and suffering 
 he has never been accused of a single act of cruelty. 
 He coveted money as an instrument of ambition, but 
 never acquired it in any manner that he did not openly 
 avow, and he scorned to preserve it by swerving a 
 hair's-breadth from his duty. His few political offences 
 he was led into by zeal for the public, and for the 
 same object he sacrificed the peace of his last years 
 and risked his accumulations of wealth and glory. 
 He possessed undaunted courage, a strong understand- 
 ing, sagacity and soundness of judgment, and un- 
 rivalled vigour in action. A mind so endowed rises 
 high above ordinary imperfections. At worst it is a 
 rough-hewn Colossus, where the irregularities of the 
 surface are lost in the grandeur of the whole. 
 
 ' The mark of interrogation is by the author, Mr Elphinstone. 
 
LORD CLIVE 
 
 299 
 
 'Though naturally bold, open and direct, Clive 
 did not despise the use of artifice when his purposes 
 required it, and it is this propensity that casts a 
 shade of meanness over his great qualities that pre- 
 vents that unmixed respect which so powerful a 
 character must otherwise have commanded. 
 
 'Though Clive had a natural sense of honour, his 
 independent and even reckless character made him 
 indiflFerent to the opinion of others and regardless of 
 form and propriety. The society in which he lived 
 in India was not likely to promote refinement ; the 
 agitated scene in which he was soon engaged, the 
 eagerness for success, the calamities and disgrace 
 attendant on feilure, left little time for reflection or 
 hesitation. The practice of the natives, the example 
 of the French, and the maxims current among his 
 brother officers, led him to rate boldness and vigour 
 far above scrupulous correctness, and the result was 
 a high sense of honour, with but little delicacy of 
 sentiment. He could sacrifice his life to his duty, 
 but not his interest to his moderation ; he was 
 generous to his friends, but barely just to his enemies. 
 He would have rejected praise he had not earned, 
 but neither forgot, nor allowed others to forget, the 
 extent of his real deserts. 
 
 ' Clive's estimate of his own services, great as they 
 were, by lio means fell short of their actual value. 
 This does not arise from any indulgence of vanity 
 on his part, but there is no occasion on which they 
 
300 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 can promote his views or interest where they are 
 not brought forward in an exaggerated form, with 
 a boldness and consciousness of worth that command 
 our respect, and overcome our dislike to self praise. 
 Hence arose a marked peculiarity of Clive's character. 
 After the enormous extent to which he had profited 
 by his situation, he delights to dwell on his integrity 
 and moderation, and speaks of greed and rapacity 
 in others with scorn and indignation. Convinced 
 that the bounty of Mfr Jafar fell short of his claims 
 on the Company, he inveighs against his successors 
 who received presents which they had not earned, 
 and speaks of them with disgust as the most criminal, 
 as well as the meanest of mankind. Nor are these 
 sentiments assumed to impose upon the public ; they 
 are most strongly expressed in his most confidential 
 letters, and appear to be drawn forth by the strength 
 of his feelings. In no stage of his life did Clive 
 appear with more dignity than during his persecution. 
 His boasts of merit and service now appear as a proud 
 resistance to calumny and oppression ; the spirit with 
 which he avowed and gloried in the acts which excited 
 the most clamour and odium, his independence 
 towards his judges, his defiance of his powerful 
 enemies, excite our interest, while they command 
 our respect and admiration. 
 
 'Clive's views were clear within the circle of his 
 vision, but they were not extensive. His political 
 plans were founded on the existing relations without 
 
LORD CLIVE 301 
 
 much attention to prospective changes. His reforms 
 were temporary expedients, and even his knowledge 
 of the state of India in his time was only accurate 
 within the scene where he had himself been an 
 actor.' 
 
 Clive's Return Home. 
 
 ' He now paid for his disinterestedness. All who 
 had been brought to punishment by his severity ; all 
 who had suffered indirectly by his reforms ; all who 
 were disappointed in their hopes of wealth and 
 favour, with their numerous connections among the 
 Proprietors, and with the old band of enemies at the 
 Indian Office House, combined to raise a clamour 
 against him ; and in this were speedily joined those 
 who envied his wealth and reputation, and a numerous 
 class whose indignation against Indians had been 
 roused by the very abuses which Clive had put down, 
 and which in their ignorance they imputed to him, 
 in common with all the Company's servants. Against 
 these attacks the Government gave him no protection. 
 
 'All his former proceedings, over which many 
 years had passed, and which, when not applauded at 
 the time, had received a general sanction from his 
 appointment to the government of India at a time 
 when honesty and public spirit were regarded as much 
 as talent, all were scrutinised as if they were now 
 mentioned for the first time. 
 
302 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 'But all these investigations brought forth no 
 fresh charge against the accused. Whatever faults 
 Clive might have committed, the facts had never 
 been denied, and his acquisitions, if immoderate, were 
 on too great a scale to be concealed. There were 
 no petty peculations, no lurking corruption to be 
 detected. A Committee with a hostile president, 
 with Mr Johnston himself for a member, produced 
 a report, the effect of which may be judged by the 
 result. A motion strongly inculpatory was made by 
 the chairman, Clive replying by avowing everything 
 of which he was accused, and declaring that in similar 
 circumstances he would do the same again. 
 
 'The division of the House was worthy the best 
 days of the Roman Senate. Without approving of 
 actions of mixed merit or demerit, or sanctioning 
 questionable principles, they voted that Robert Lord 
 Clive had rendered great and meritorious services to 
 his country. 
 
 ' But this honourable testimony could not remove 
 the effect of two years of persecution ; and it is 
 doubtful whether the sense of injury and ingratitude 
 did not concur with sufferings from disease to cut 
 off the career of this proud and aspiring genius.' 
 
APPENDIX IV 
 
 303 
 
 George CIive= Catherine Raftor, 
 b. 1711, m, 1732, 
 d. 7 Dec. 1785. 
 '' Kitty Clive." 
 
 PEDIGREE OF LORD CLIVE 
 
 (Extract) 
 
 RiCHAEDCLiVEofHuxIey,co.Chester,=jANE,d. of William :(irereton of Brere- 
 
 and Styche, in Moreton Say, co. 
 Salop ; d. 27 Ap. 1572 ; brass in H, 
 Trinity Cb., Chester. 
 
 ton, CO. Chester, by Ann, d. of Sir 
 William Booth of Punham Massey, 
 CO. Chester. 
 
 Sir George Olive of the same, Knt.,=5usanna, d. of Henry Copinger of 
 
 Chancr. of the Exchequer in Ireland, 
 &c. ; kntd. 4 Aug. 1588, d. i Sept. 
 1591- 
 
 Davington, co. Kent, esq. 
 
 r. JoshuaCliveofHuxleyand Styche. =Mary, d. of Andrew Charlton of 
 
 ! Apley, co. Salop. 
 
 Ambrose Clive of Styche, co. 
 Salop, esq. 
 
 = Alice, d. of Thomas Townshend of 
 I Braconash, co. Norf., esq. 
 
 Rachel Clive, heiress of Clive in=Thomas Wilbraham of Nantwich, 
 Middlewich and of Huxley; m. 24 I co. Chester ; ^. 25 June 1589, of Line. 
 March 1619-20, d. 5 Ap. 1657. I Inn, &c., d. 1643. 
 
 Robert Clive of Siyche, 
 esq. ; admd. to Line 
 as ' s. and h. appt. 
 Styche, co. Salop, 
 
 CO. Salop,: 
 , Inn 7 June 1632, 
 of Ambrose C. of 
 irm.' 
 
 George Clive of 
 Heref.,y«?-tf uxori 
 
 3. Edward Clive of 
 Wormbridge. 
 
 1. Robert Clive of Styche, 
 CO. Salop, esq. 
 
 I. Sir Edward Clive, 
 Knt.;_^. 1704, admd. 
 to Line. Inn as s. 
 and heir of Edwd. of 
 Wormbridge, gent., 
 27 March 1719, J. 
 Common Pleas,i7S3- 
 70. 
 
 Elizabeth, d. of Richard Amphlett of Hadso", co. Wore, 
 esq., by Anne, d. of Edw. Cookes of Bentley P^uncefobt, co. 
 Wore, 'founder's kin' at Worcester College. 
 
 Mary, d. of Sir Edward AUeyn of 
 Hatfield Priory, co. Essex, Bart. 
 
 Wormbridge, co. =Mary, d. and heir of Martin Husbands 
 d. vitapatris. I of Wormbridge, co. Heref. 
 
 ■z. George Clive, Cursitor Baron of the 
 Exchequer ; buried in Lincoln's Inn 
 Chapel 5 Jan.1739-40. 
 
 I. Robert. 
 d, unm. 
 
 2. George, 
 of Drayton, 
 CO. Salop. 
 
 4. Benjamin 
 Clive. = 
 
 Richard Clive of= Rebecca, d. pf Na- 
 
 Styche, CO. 
 esq. 
 
 Salop, 
 
 thaniel Gaaikell of 
 Manchester, j gent. 
 {^d. 20 Novi 1716, 
 aged 63), by Sarah 
 Wilson (w. ^7 June 
 1693, d. I, purd. 4 
 May 1707). 
 
 S arah Gaskell, wz., 13 
 May 1718, Hugh, 
 nth Lord Sempill 
 {d. 25 Nov. _ 1746), 
 and d. 17 April 1749. 
 
 Elizabeth Gaskell,m., 
 1717, Daniel Bayley 
 of Manchester, and 
 d. 2^ Feb. 1734, 
 aged 34. 
 
 Other issue. Margaret, d. of Edmund=i. Robert Clive, ^. at Styche, 29 Septj 
 Maskelyne of Westmin- I bapt. 2 Oct. 1725, at Moreton Sayi 
 ster, &c. I Lord Clive of Plassey, &c. 
 
 Ann Clive. = George Sempill, Col. John, Lord 
 
 E. 1. C. Service ; d. Sempill. 
 
 18 Oct. 1779. = 
 

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 -3-S I 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, Thomas, Major, who com- 
 manded in the battles of 
 Katwa, Gheriah and Andhwa 
 Nala, 135-6. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of, 11. 
 
 Aldercron, Colonel, jealous of 
 Clive and obstructive, 49. 
 
 Aliverdi Khan, Nawab of Bengal 
 and grandfather of Suraj ud 
 Daulah, 47. 
 
 Allahabad, restored to the Emperor 
 by the Nawab Vazir, 153. 
 
 Almon, Parliamentary History by, 
 200. 
 
 Ambur, Battle of, 19. 
 
 Amyatt, Mr, a Bengal Civil 
 Servant, murdered when 
 escaping from Patna, 134, 
 
 Andhwa Nala, Battle of, 136. 
 
 Anwarud din Khan, Nawab of the 
 Carnatic, 19 ; killed at the 
 battle of Ambur, 20. 
 
 Arcot, capital of the Carnatic, 17 ; 
 Clive suggests its capture, 17 ; 
 Clive marches thither on 26th 
 August 1 75 1, 22 ; arrives 
 there on 31st August, 23 ; 
 and finds the fort evacuated, 
 23 ; fort subsequently invested 
 by Raja Sahib, 25 ; defence 
 of, 25-27 ; defence of, the 
 turning point in Clive's career, 
 and also in the Eastern career 
 of the English, 27. 
 
 Army, remonstrance of the 
 officers of the, on the subject 
 
 of prize money after Plassey, 
 90 et sef. ; mutinous discon- 
 tent among the officers in 
 1766, 167 et seq. 
 Arni, captured by Clive a few days 
 after the siege of Arcot was 
 raised, 27. 
 
 B 
 
 Barker, Sir Robert, one of the 
 brigadiers who supported 
 Clive in suppressing the 
 mutiny of the officers, 169 
 et seq, 
 
 Bayley, Daniel, of Hope Hall, 
 Manchester, where much of 
 Robert Clive's childhood was 
 spent, 2 ; his description of 
 Clive as 'out of measure 
 addicted to fighting,' 2. 
 
 Beecher, appointed a member of 
 the Bengal Council, 177. 
 
 Benares, Raja of, allowed after the 
 war between the Company 
 and the Nawab Vazir to 
 retain his districts, but in 
 subordination to Oudh, 153. 
 
 Bengal, Behar and Orissa, Clive 
 obtains the Diwani of, 151 
 et seq, 
 
 Biderra, the Dutch beaten by 
 Forde at, 109. 
 
 Boscawen, Admiral, supports with 
 his squadron the siege of 
 Pondicherry, 8, 
 
 05 
 
3o6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brazil, Clive spent nine months 
 in, on his first voyage to 
 India, 4. 
 
 Burdwan, a district ceded by 
 Kasim Ali Khan to the 
 Company, 132 5 abuses con- 
 nected with its management, 
 140. 
 
 Burgoyne, General, moves resolu- 
 tions against Clive in Select 
 Committee of House of 
 Commons, 208. 
 
 Budge Budge, Clive's fight at, 51. 
 
 Buxar, Battle of, its importance, 
 137. 
 
 Calcutta, acquired by the East 
 India Company in 1686 
 through agency of Job Char- 
 nock, 46-7 ; attack on, by 
 Suraj ud Daulah, 48 j affair 
 of the Black Hole, 48, 
 
 Calliaud, Colonel, repels an inva- 
 sion of Behar by the Shahzada, 
 114. 
 
 Carnac, General, commanding 
 the Bengal army during 
 Clive*s last government of 
 Bengal, 177 ; offered by 
 Clive an annuity of ^^500 
 if he retired from the service, 
 229. 
 
 Cartier, it was thought, had proved 
 his capacity, 173 ; on suc- 
 ceeding Verelst as Governor 
 proved to be a weak man, 
 
 187. 
 
 Chandernagore, Clive instructed 
 to capture, in the event of 
 war with France, 61 ; assault 
 and capture of, 64 et seq. ,• 
 Clive's evidence regarding 
 the conduct of Admiral 
 Wat8on*8 fleet at the assault, 
 
 64. 
 
 Chanda Sahib, competitor for the 
 Nawabship of the Carnatic, 
 19 ; murdered by the Tanjore 
 chief, 34. 
 
 Chatham, Earl of. See William 
 Pitt the elder. 
 
 Chingleput, captured by Clive, 37. 
 
 Chinsurah, the Dutch beaten by 
 Forde at, 109. 
 
 Chittagong, a district ceded at the 
 same time as Burdwan, 132. 
 
 Civil Servants, the duties of in 
 Clive's earlier service very 
 different from those now de- 
 volving on them, 5 ; Clive's 
 description of the insubordina- 
 tion of, 165-6, 
 
 Claremont, purchased by Clive 
 from the Duchess of New- 
 castle, 229. 
 
 Clive's Fund, established by Clive 
 in 1766, 164 ; reclaimed by 
 Clive's heirs-at-law in 1858, 
 and then continued by the 
 Secretary of State in Council, 
 164-5. 
 
 Clive, Lady, marries Robert Clive 
 at Madras in 1753, 37 ; tra- 
 dition connected with the 
 marriage, 37-38 ; a beautiful 
 and accomplished woman, 
 much beloved both by her 
 own and Clive's family, 38, 
 217 ; her picture at Basset 
 Down, 38, 
 
 Clive, Richard, father of Robert, 
 Lord Clive, owner of Styche, 
 compelled by poverty to 
 practise as a solicitor, i ; 
 extricated from his pecuniary 
 difficulties by his son, 41. 
 
 Clive, Robert, birth and parentage, 
 I ; childhood at Hope Hall, 
 Manchester, 2 ; energy of 
 disposition, 2 ; begins school 
 life at Lostock in Cheshire, 
 3 \ thence transferred to 
 Market Drayton, to Merchant 
 Taylors' School, and to Hemel 
 
INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Hempstead in succession, 3 ; 
 appointed in 1743 to an 
 Indian writership at Madras, 
 3 5 arrival at Madras late in 
 '744> 4 J after long detention 
 at Rio de Janeiro, 4 ; duties 
 uncongenial to him, 5 ; his 
 escape from Madras after its 
 capture by the French, 7 ; 
 his duels, 7-9 ; attracts notice 
 of Stringer Lawrence during 
 siege of Pondicherry, 10 ; 
 employed on expeditions to 
 Devikota, 13 ; Lawrence*s 
 opinion of Clive at Devilcota, 
 16 ; deputation with Pigot 
 to Verdachalam, 16 ; perma- 
 nent transfer to military 
 service, 17 ; visits to Trichi- 
 nopoly, 16, 17 i suggests 
 seizure of Arcot, 17 ; marches 
 upon Arcot on z6th August 
 175 1 ; arrives there on 31st 
 August, and occupies the 
 fort, 23 ; encounters with the 
 enemy, 23, 24 ; his narrow 
 escape and repulse of the final 
 assault, 25 ; meets Raja 
 Sahib's bribes and threats by 
 defiance, joined by Morari 
 Rao, 27 ; marches upon 
 Ami and disperses Raja 
 Sahib's force, 28 ; attacked 
 by Raja Sahib at Kaveripak, 
 and wins decisive victory, 29 ; 
 recalled to command expedi- 
 tion to Trichinopoly, 30 ; 
 superseded by Lawrence, 32 ; 
 detached to Samiavaram, 32 ; 
 renders important service to 
 Lawrence, 33 ; narrow es- 
 capes, 34, 35 5 employed at 
 Chingleput and Covelong, 36, 
 37 i his marriage, 37-39 ; 
 return to England, 40 j his 
 reception there, helps his 
 family, 41 ; elected member 
 for St Michael's, but un- 
 seated on petition, 41 ; ap- 
 
 pointed Governor of Fort St 
 David, 42 ; gazetted Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel in the Royal 
 Army, 43 ; goes to Bombay, 
 43 ; takes Gheriah in con- 
 junction with Admiral Wat- 
 son, 44, 45 ; dispute as to 
 his share of prize money, 45 ; 
 assumes government of Fort 
 St David, 46 ; sent to Bengal 
 as Commander-in-Chief of 
 force despatched to avenge 
 outrage of Black Hole, 49 ; 
 lands at Mayapur, and is 
 surprised near Budge Budge, 
 51,52; difficulties with Wat- 
 son, 53 ; and with Council at 
 Calcutta, 55, 56 ; captures 
 Hughli, 56 ; battle near 
 Calcutta, 57 ; letter to Duke 
 of Newcastle, 57-60 ; makes 
 treaty with Nawab, 6 1 j in con- 
 junction with Watson attacks 
 and captures Chandernagore, 
 63, 64 ; determines to remain 
 in Bengal, 66 ; his distrust of 
 the Nawab, 67, 68 ; engages 
 in a plot to dethrone the 
 Nawab, 68 ; his distrust of 
 Mir Jafar, 69, 70 ; discovers 
 the treachery of Omichand, 
 70 ; adopts the expedient of 
 framing two treaties, one real 
 and the other sham, 71 ; ad- 
 vances towards Plassey on the 
 1 2th June, 74 ; calls a Council 
 of War, 76, 77 ; votes with 
 the majority for delay, but 
 does not adhere to this de- 
 cision, 77 ; reaches Plassey, 
 78 ; his report of the battle, 
 79-83 ; his reception of Mir 
 Jafar the day after the battle, 
 85 ; has to be content with 
 receiving half the price of 
 his victory, and the rest later 
 on, 87 ; and subsequently 
 receives from Mir Jafar a 
 personal present of ;^i6o,ooo. 
 
 U 
 
3o8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 88 ; causes Omichand to be 
 undeceived, 88 ; correspond- 
 ence with malcontent military 
 officers regarding claims of 
 the navy to prize money, 
 
 92, 93 ; correspondence with 
 Select Committee at Calcutta, 
 
 93, 94; urged again by 
 Madras authorities to return 
 to Madras, 95 ; honours con- 
 ferred upon him by the 
 Emperor of Delhi, 90 ; his 
 name omitted from the first 
 Council appointed after the 
 recapture of Calcutta, 97 ; 
 aids Mir Jafar against the 
 Shahzada, 98, 99 ; his re- 
 sponse to Shahzada's appeal 
 for protection, 100 ; grant of 
 Jagir, 100, 10 1 ; despatches a 
 force to the Northern Sirkars, 
 102-106 ; repels invasion of 
 the Dutch, 107-110 ; his 
 indignation at the surrender 
 of Fort St David to Lally, 
 113 5 embarks for England 
 for the second time on 14th 
 January 1760, 114 ; letter to 
 the elder Pitt, 1 14-120 ; rates 
 the Court of Directors for the 
 asperity of a despatch, 121- 
 123 ; his cordial reception in 
 England, 124 ; created an 
 Irish Peer, 126 ; incurs the 
 hostility of Lawrence Sullivan, 
 127 ; results of his letter to 
 the elder Pitt, 128 ; his 
 opinions much in advance of 
 his time, 128 ; elected Mem- 
 ber for Shrewsbury, and 
 attaches himself to George 
 Grenville, 129 ; expends 
 ;^ 1 00,000 in acquiring votes 
 at the East India House, 
 129 ; threatened with loss of 
 his Jagir, 130 ; is urged, and 
 consents, to return to Bengal, 
 where affairs are in great 
 disorder, 138-144; his views 
 
 on the relations of the Eng- 
 lish and native princes, 145 ; 
 favours the appointment of 
 a Governor-General of India 
 located in Bengal, 146 ; noti- 
 fies to the Council the powers 
 assigned to Select Committee, 
 147 5 enforces the execution 
 of the covenants, 148 ; sus- 
 pends from the service Messrs 
 Spencer, Johnston and Ley- 
 cester, 149 ; holds that the 
 Company's territories should 
 be transferred to the Crown, 
 150 ; arranges for transfer of 
 the Diwani to the Company, 
 152 5 advocates increase of 
 salaries in civil service, 162 ; 
 establishes Clive's Fund, 164 ; 
 deals with discontent in civil 
 service and in the army, 165- 
 170 ; his minutes on retiring 
 from the Government, 173- 
 175 ; finally leaves India, 
 29th January 1767, 177 ; 
 lands at Portsmouth, 14th 
 July, 178 ; condemns the 
 annual subsidy of ^^400,000 
 made by the Court to the 
 Government, 179 ; the tenure 
 of his Jagir extended, 180 ; 
 his bad opinion of the Court 
 of Directors, 181, 182 5 visits 
 the continent in 1768, 184; 
 his opinion of Verelst, 184, 
 185 ; attaches great import- 
 ance to subordination of 
 military to civil power, 185 ; 
 denounces the pride and 
 ambition of Colonel Richard 
 Smith, 186; loses by death 
 his friend Grenville, 188 ; 
 his hostility to Vansittart, 
 189 ; supports appointment 
 of Warren Hastings as 
 Governor of Bengal, 190 ; 
 his letter to Hastings, 190- 
 1955 confers on Indian affairs 
 with Lord North and Lord 
 
INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 Rochford, 197, 198 ; attacked 
 in the Press, 199 ; and in 
 House of Commons by Sulli- 
 van, 199 ; defends himself in 
 an able speech, 199 - 203 ; 
 and Appendix I., 231-286; 
 denounces the Government, 
 
 204 ; and the Court of Direc- 
 tors and Court of Proprietors, 
 
 205 ; cross - examined by a 
 Select Committee as to events 
 of 1757, 206 ; admits and 
 justifies all he did, 207 ; in- 
 vested with the Order of the 
 Bath, and appointed Lord- 
 Lieutenant both of Shropshire 
 and of Montgomeryshire, 208 ; 
 abstract resolutions aimed at 
 him passed by the House, 208- 
 209 ; resolution condemning 
 him by name moved by Bur- 
 goyne, 209 ; his second speech 
 in defence, 210 - 212, and 
 Appendix IL, 287-296 ; re- 
 solution moved byMrWedder- 
 burn that ' Robert Lord Clive 
 did at the same time render 
 great and meritorious services 
 to his country ' carried without 
 a division, 212 ; heavy strain 
 caused by the enquiry, 216 ; 
 his physical sufferings, 217 ; 
 his letters to Henry Strachey 
 218 ; his death by his own 
 hand, 219, 220 ; remarkable 
 points in his career, 221, 
 222 ; his character, 224, 
 225 ; his letter on Grenville's 
 death, 227 ; his weaknesses, 
 227, 228 ; not refined either 
 in manner or in appearance, 
 229 ; his generosity and 
 sense of gratitude, 229 ; his 
 conduct in private life irre- 
 proachable, 229 ; his views on 
 public affairs clear and far- 
 seeing, 230. 
 
 Committee of Secrecy, object of 
 and results, 214. 
 
 Conflans, Marquis de, commanded 
 the French garrison at Masuli- 
 patam, 104, 105. 
 
 Coote, Eyre, landed at Fort 
 William in" command of the 
 King's troops, 51 ; appointed 
 by Watson to be Governor of 
 Fort William, and superseded 
 by Clive on the following day, 
 53 ; votes at the Council of 
 War for an immediate attack 
 upon the Nawab, 77 ; 
 despatched by Clive in pur- 
 suit of Law, 89 ; defeats 
 Lally at Wandiwash, 114. 
 
 Corah, restored to the Emperor 
 by the Nawab Vazir, 153. 
 
 Cornwallis, Marquis of, views of 
 regarding official salaries, 
 163. 
 
 Court of Directors of the East India 
 Company, reception of Clive 
 by, on his first return from 
 India, 40 ; their treatment of 
 Clive after Plassey, 96 et seq, ; 
 Clive's unfavourable opinion 
 of, 1 14 ; their comments on 
 the misgovernment of Bengal 
 under Vansittart, 139 et seq, ; 
 their inability to realise their 
 responsibilities as governors 
 of a great empire, 162 et 
 seq, ; their resolution to bring 
 to trial the Members of 
 Council who had been sus- 
 pended by Clive overruled by 
 the Court of Proprietors, 183 ; 
 condemned by Clive in his 
 speech before the House of 
 Commons, 205. 
 
 Court of Proprietors, denounced 
 by Clive in his speech before 
 the House of Commons, 205. 
 
 Covelong, captured by Clive, 36- 
 37- 
 
 D 
 
 Dalhousie, Marquis of, ignorant 
 
310 
 
 INDEX 
 
 clamour raised against him, 
 230. 
 
 D*Auteuil, the French General, 
 who commanded at the battle 
 of Ambur, 20 ; supersedes 
 Law before TrJchinopoly, 
 and ends by surrendering to 
 Lawrence, 34, 
 
 De Bussy, served as second in 
 command at Ambur, 20 ; 
 was the ablest of the French 
 generals, 20 5 commanded 
 French troops in the Dekhan, 
 62 ; distinguished by his de- 
 fence of a post at Charmahal, 
 62 5 recalled by Lally from 
 the Dekhan, 102. 
 
 Decorations, remarks upon, iii- 
 X12. 
 
 Dekhan, the, Subahdars of, the 
 real overlords of the greater 
 part of Southern India, 19. 
 
 Devikota, Clive employed in the 
 expeditions against, 13 ; ces- 
 sion of the fort to the East 
 India Company under some- 
 what discreditable circum- 
 stances, 15 ; Stringer Law- 
 rence's remarks on Clive's 
 conduct at, 16. 
 
 Diwani, transferred to the East 
 India Company at the 
 instance of Clive, 150 et 
 seq. 
 
 Drake, Governor of Fort William, 
 escapes from the Black Hole 
 outrage by taking refuge on 
 board ship, 48 ; gives an 
 unintelligible opinion regard- 
 ing the attack upon Chander- 
 nagore, 63. 
 
 Ducarrel, Miss, present in Clive's 
 house on the occasion of his 
 death, 219, 220. 
 Dupleix, Governor of Pondlcherry, 
 6 ; the first European to re- 
 cruit natives of India for 
 military employment, 6 ; in 
 1746 sent Admiral Labour- 
 
 donnais to attack Madras, 
 6 ; disallowed Labour donnais* 
 agreement with the Governor 
 of Madras, 6 ; removed the 
 Governor of Madras and 
 principal officials to Pondl- 
 cherry as prisoners of war, 6 ; 
 conflict between English and 
 French in Carnatic brought 
 about by his ambition, 18 ; 
 received valuable help from 
 his wife, a French Creole, 18 ; 
 furnished a contingent of 400 
 Frenchmen at the battle of 
 Ambur, 20 ; received from 
 Mirzapha Jung the sovereignty 
 of eighty-one villages, 20 5 
 disgusted with Law's inac- 
 tivity, superseded him by ap- 
 pointing d'Auteuil, 34 ; re- 
 called in 1754 and succeeded 
 by Godehieu, 43, 
 
 Dupree, M., a French General 
 whom Clive described as 
 having been bribed by the 
 English, 290. 
 
 Dutch, the war with, 107 et seq. 
 
 E 
 
 Ellis, Mr, a Member of Council 
 and head of the factory at 
 Patna, 134 ; killed in the 
 massacre at that place, 136. 
 
 Elphlnstone, Honourable Mount- 
 stuart, his estimate of Clive, 
 225-6 ; and Appendix III., 
 297-302. 
 
 Fletcher, Sir Robert, misconduct 
 of in connection with the 
 mutiny of the officers, 169 ; 
 dismissed by court-martial, 
 170 ; reinstated, 171 ; subse- 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 quent misconduct as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief at Madras, 
 171. 
 
 Forde, Colonel, an officer of the 
 39th Foot, 103 5 gains an 
 important victory at Kondur 
 and captures Masulipatam, 
 105 et se^.; commands force 
 against the Dutch and beats 
 them, 108 et seq.; Clive's 
 characteristic letter to him, 
 no ; his services not recog- 
 nised by the Court of Direc- 
 tors, III ; perishes at sea in 
 the Aurora frigate in 1769, 
 III. 
 
 Fox, Charles James, his India Bill 
 owed its origin to Clive's letter 
 to the elder Pitt, 128. 
 
 Fuller, Rose, Mr, seconder of Mr 
 Stanley's amendment in 
 favour of Clive, 212. 
 
 Gaskell, Nathaniel, father of 
 Robert Clive's mother, i. 
 
 General Courts, subversive of the 
 authority of the Court of 
 Directors, 206, 285. 
 
 George III., Accession of, shortly 
 before Clive reached England 
 in 1760, 124; invests Clive 
 with Order of the Bath in 
 1772, 208 ; appoints him 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire 
 and Montgomeryshire, 208. 
 
 Gheriah, a fort on the western 
 coast possessed by Tulaji 
 Angria, a Mahratta pirate, 
 captured by Clive and Watson, 
 
 44-S- 
 
 Gheriah, scene of a battle fought 
 by Major Adams against 
 Kasim Ali Khan, 135-6. 
 
 Grenville, George, friend and sup- 
 porter of Clive, 129, 188, 
 
 H 
 
 Halliday, Sir Frederick, grand- 
 son of Miss Ducarrel, his 
 version of the story of Clive's 
 death, 220, 
 
 Hastings, Warren, one of the only 
 two civil servants of mark in 
 Bengal, 94 ; his claims pressed 
 upon Clive by Sykes in 1768, 
 when he was appointed second 
 in Council at Madras, 190 ; 
 appointed Governor of Bengal 
 in 1 77 1, 190; Clive's letter 
 to him, 190-195 ; Clive's 
 estimate of him as deficient 
 in resolution mistaken, 195, 
 196 ; cause of his difficulties 
 as Governor of Bengal, 214 ; 
 his impeachment a blot upon 
 English history, 230. 
 
 Hemel Hempstead, Clive at a 
 private school ther/, 3. 
 
 Holwell, John Zephaniah, bne of 
 the sufferers in the Black 
 Hole Outrage, 48 ; Acting 
 Governor of Bengal, 48 et 
 seq. ,* his India Tracts, 49 
 (footnote) ; released at the 
 instance of the widow of 
 Aliverdi Khan, 49 j tem- 
 porary Governor on Clive's 
 departure in 1760, 114; a 
 signatory to Clive's letter 
 denouncing the Court of 
 Directors' style of corre- 
 spondence, 123 5 dismissed by 
 the Court, 123 ; his dislike 
 to Mir Jafar, 132. 
 
 Hughli Town, a factory established 
 at, in the 17th century, 46 ; 
 the Company's representatives 
 driven thence in 1686, 46 ; 
 captured by Clive and Wat- 
 son, 56. 
 
 Hughli River, reached by Clive 
 and Watson with part of 
 their force in the middle of 
 December 1756, 50. 
 
312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hyder, Ali, the struggle within 
 Madras, 187. 
 
 Ingham, Mr, a surgeon, who 
 accompanied Clive on his last 
 visit to Bengal, 263. 
 
 Inland Trade, abuses connected 
 with, 133 ; brought on war 
 with Kasim Ali Khan, 134, 
 
 Jaggat Seth, a wealthy banker, 
 supposed to have suggested 
 the plot against Suraj ud 
 Daulah, 68 ; murdered by 
 order of Kasim AH Khan, 
 
 Jagir granted to Clive by Mir 
 Jafar, 100 ; temporarily re- 
 sumed by the Court of 
 Directors, 130 5 confirmed 
 for ten years, 142 ; Clive*s 
 tenure of it further extended 
 after his final return from 
 India, 181. 
 
 James, Lord Justice, describes in 
 his book, The British in India, 
 the rampant misrule which 
 prevailed under Vansittart's 
 Government, 141. 
 
 Johnston, Governor, a violent 
 opponent of Clive in the 
 Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons, 205. 
 
 Johnston, Mr, a member of 
 Council, suspended from the 
 service by Clive, 149 ; a 
 member ofl the Select Com- 
 mittee of the House of Com- 
 mons, 302. 
 
 K 
 
 KXsiM Ali Kh^n, appointed 
 Nawab of Bengal in super- 
 session of his father-in-law, 
 Mir Jafar, 132 ; pays 
 ^200,000 to members of 
 the Select Committee, 132; 
 cedes to the English the 
 districts of Burdwan, Midna- 
 pur and Chittagong, 132; 
 remonstrates against the 
 system of inland transit 
 duties enforced by the 
 Council, 133 ; agrees with 
 Vansittart to a compromise, 
 which the Council decline to 
 ratify, 134; establishes free 
 trade in Bengal ; the Council 
 declares war against him, 135; 
 defeated in the battles of 
 Katwa, Gheriah and Andhwa 
 Nala, 135, 136 ; massacres 
 European prisoners at Patna 
 and flies into Oudh, 136 j 
 thence, after battle of Buxar, 
 to Rohilkhand, 137. 
 
 Kaveri, a river in the south of 
 India, 33. 
 
 Kaveripak, a village near which an 
 important battle was fought 
 by Clive by moonlight, 29. 
 
 Keene, Henry George, author of a 
 poem entitled CUve's Dream 
 before Plassey, 222, 
 
 Kilpatrick, Major, sent to Clive's 
 aid with reinforcements, 52; 
 votes with Clive in favour of 
 attack upon Chandernagore, 
 
 63. 
 
 Kondur, battle fought at, 104. 
 
 Labourdonnais, the French admi- 
 ral who besieged and took 
 Madras in 1746, 6. 
 
 Lally ToUendal, Governor of 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 Pondicherry in 1758, captured 
 Fort St David, 113; besieged 
 Madras in 1759, but raised 
 siege in about two months, 
 113 ; defeated by Eyre Coote 
 at Wandiwasli in 1760, 114. 
 
 Lawrence, Stringer, Clive attracted 
 his notice, 10 ; his opinion of 
 Clive at Devikota, 1 5 ; ap- 
 pointed to command expedi- 
 tion to Trichinopoly ; placed 
 Clive in command of a de- 
 tachment sent to Jamiavaram, 
 32 ; received a sword of 
 honour from the Court of 
 Directors at the same time 
 with Clive, 40 ; presented by 
 Clive with an annuity of 
 £Soo, 229. 
 
 Law, M., commands the French 
 in operations before Trichi- 
 nopoly, but eventually sur- 
 renders to Lawrence, having 
 been previously superseded by 
 D'Auteuil, 32 £f se^. ,• serves 
 at Chandernagore during the 
 siege, 63 ; joins the Nawab 
 at Murshidabad, but is sent 
 away before Plassey and es- 
 capes into Oudh, 89. 
 
 Lostock, a place in Cheshire where 
 Robert Clive began his school 
 life, 2 ; its master predicted 
 that if opportunity enabled 
 him 'to exert his talents, 
 few names would be greater 
 than his/ 2. 
 
 Lushington, Mr, supposed to have 
 written Watson's signature to 
 the sham treaty with Omi- 
 chand by Watson's order, 
 according to Clive, 72. 
 
 M 
 
 Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 
 remarks of, regarding the 
 misgovernment of Bengal 
 
 under Vansittart, 138-9 ; his 
 favourable opinion of Clive, 
 222. 
 
 Madagascar, Clive predicted con- 
 quest of by the French, 230, 
 274, 275. 
 
 Madras, Robert Clive's arrival at, 
 4 i Clive allowed to use the 
 Governor's library in, 4 ; sur- 
 render of, to the French, on 
 loth September 1746, 6 ; 
 Clive's escape from, 7 ; re- 
 stored- to the English in 1748, 
 II ; Clive started from for 
 Arcot on 26th August 175 1, 
 22 ; reinforcement from, 
 reached Clive at Arcot on 1 5th 
 November, 25 ; Clive married 
 at, on i8th February 1753, 
 37 5 expedition sailed from, 
 to avenge the Black Hole 
 Outrage in October 1756, 49; 
 authorities of, urged Clive to 
 take back his force, 65 ; cir- 
 cumstances which delayed 
 Clive's return to, 66, 67, 98; 
 besieged by Lally, 113; Clive 
 heard there of the death of 
 Mir Jafar, 146 ; Warren 
 Hastings appointed second in 
 Council at, 190. 
 
 Mahrattas, rulers of the princi- 
 palities of Tanjore, Madura, 
 and Mysore, 12 ; rule at 
 Sattara, 19 ; in possession of 
 Delhi, 160 ; threatened in- 
 vasion of Bengal, 170, 
 
 Malcolm, Sir John, his opinion 
 regarding Clive's duels, 9 ; 
 his opinion of Vansittart's 
 weak rule, 141. 
 
 Malleson, Colonel, opinion of, as 
 to the alleged threat by Omi- 
 chand, 70 ; his statement of 
 the question put to the Coun- 
 cil of War before Plassey, 
 
 77- 
 Market Drayton, in Shropshire, 
 where Robert Clive attended 
 
314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 his second school and climbed 
 the church steeple, 3. 
 
 Maskelyne, Edmund, Clive's com- 
 panion in his escape from 
 Madras, 7 ; brother of Lady 
 Clive, 37. 
 
 Maskelyne, Margaret, See Lady 
 Clive. 
 
 Maskelyne, Nevil, another brother 
 of Lady Clive, Astronomer 
 Royal, 39. 
 
 Masulipatam, captured by Colonel 
 Forde in 1758, 104, 105 ; im- 
 portance of the capture, 106. 
 
 Mauritius and Bourbon, French 
 settlements, 274. 
 
 Mayapur, Clive's force disembarked 
 at, 50-1. 
 
 Merchant Taylors' School, Robert 
 Clive sent there at the age of 
 twelve, 3. 
 
 Midnapore, a district ceded at the 
 same time as Burdwan, 132. 
 
 Mill, James, adverse opinion of 
 regarding Clive's duels, 9; 
 condemns the Parliamentary 
 proceedings against Clive, 215- 
 216. 
 
 Minchin, Captain, deserts his post 
 before the Black Hole outrage 
 and takes refuge on board ship, 
 48. 
 
 Miran, son of Mir Jafar, orders 
 Suraj ud Daulah to be mur- 
 dered, 86 ; an attack by him 
 upon the Dutch averted by 
 Clive, no ; he dies before his 
 father, 132. 
 
 Mir Jafar, commander-in-chief of 
 the Nawab's army, 69 ; joins 
 the plot against the Nawab 
 and makes overtures to Clive, 
 69 ; his doubtful attitude 
 before and at the battle of 
 Plassey, 75 et seq. ; received 
 by Clive at Daudpur, 85; 
 installed by Clive as Nawab 
 on 29th June 1757, 87 ; 
 helped by Clive against the 
 
 Shahzada, 98 et seq. ; confers 
 Jagir upon Clive, 100 ; re- 
 sents Clive*s influence and 
 stimulates the Dutch to 
 attack Calcutta, 106 et seq.; 
 Holwell's dislike to him, 132; 
 removed from the Nawabship, 
 132 ; reinstated, 136 ; his 
 death on 25th February 1765, 
 146 ; Clive's estimate of his 
 friendship for him, 267. 
 
 Mir Mudin, the only faithful 
 general on Suraj ud Daulah's 
 side at Plassey, killed early in 
 the battle, 82. 
 
 Mirzapha Jung, candidate for the 
 Subahdari of the Dekhan, 195 
 proclaims himself, after the 
 battle of Ambur, Subahdar of 
 the Dekhan and Chanda 
 Sahib Nawab of the Car- 
 natic, 20 ; confers upon 
 Dupleix eighty-one villages 
 adjoining French territory, 
 20 ; is killed in a revolt of 
 his Pathan soldiers, 21. 
 
 Morari Rao, a freebooting Mah- 
 ratta chief, who joined Clive 
 shortly after the siege of 
 Arcot was raised, 27 ; secretly 
 supports Muhammad AU in 
 refusing to give up Trichino- 
 poly to the Raja of Mysore, 
 
 Moreton Say, the birthplace of 
 Robert Clive, in Shropshire, 
 I ; where he was also buried, 
 220. 
 
 Muhammad Ali, Nawab of the 
 Carnatic, known as Nawab 
 Wallajah, 20 ; besieged at 
 Trichinopoly by Chanda 
 Sahib, 20 ; more than once 
 reduced to despair, 31 ; Ms 
 refusal to perform a promise 
 to the Raja of Mysore, 35. 
 
 Muhammad Riza Khan, Minister 
 of the Nawab Nazim ud 
 Daulah, 150. 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Munro, Sir Hector, won a decisive 
 victory at Buxar with troops 
 recently in a state of mutiny, 
 137-8. 
 
 Murshidabad, native capital of 
 Bengal, Suraj ud Daulah re- 
 turned there in the night 
 after Plassey, and was mur- 
 dered there by order of Miran, 
 86^ Clive entered on 29th 
 June, 87 ; seat of Govern- 
 ment removed from to Mun- 
 gir by Kasim Ali Khan, 1 34. 
 
 Muxadavad, one of the names of 
 Murshidabad, 268,_/oo/no/e. 
 
 N 
 
 Nazim ud Daulah, succeeded Mir 
 Jafar in 1765 as Nawab of 
 Bengal, 14.6 ; his character, 
 
 Nazir Jung, grandson of Nizam ul 
 Mulk, contests the claim of 
 Mirzapha Jung at the battle 
 of Ambur, 19 ; is murdered 
 by one of his tributaries, 21. 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of, Clive's letter 
 to, 57-60. 
 
 Nizam ul Mulk, Subahdar of the 
 Dekhan, death of, 19. 
 
 North, Lord, Prime Minister in 
 1772, 197; confers with Clive, 
 197 ; supports the attack on 
 Clive in the House of Com- 
 mons, 209 ; passes the Regu- 
 lating Act of 1773, 214. 
 
 Omichand, a wealthy Hindu, in 
 whose garden the battle of 
 5thFebruary 1757 was fought, 
 69 ; his alleged threat to 
 divulge the plot against Suraj 
 ud Daulah, 69 et seq. ; the red 
 and white treaties, 71 ; reve- 
 
 lation of the trick to, 88 ; the 
 fraud upon, indefensible, 223. 
 Oudh, Nawab Vazir of. See Sujah 
 ud Daulah. 
 
 Patna, threatened by the Shah- 
 zada, 99 ; capture of, by Ellis, 
 134; recapture, 134; mass- 
 acre of Europeans at, 136, 
 
 Pigot, Lord, accompanied Clive to 
 Verdachalam, when they had 
 to ride for their lives, 16 ; 
 when Governor of Madras in 
 1775 was imprisoned by the 
 members of his Council, 171. 
 
 Pitt, William, the elder, Clive's 
 letter to him, 1 14-120; 
 unable as Earl of Chatham, 
 owing to ill-health, to help 
 Clive, 178 ; his favourable 
 opinion of Clive's first speech 
 before the Select Committee 
 of the House of Commons, 
 199. 
 
 Pitt, William, the younger, his 
 India Bill owed its origin to 
 Clive's letter to the elder Pitt, 
 128. 
 
 Plassey, battle of, 75 et seq, 
 
 Pocock, Admiral, second in com- 
 mand to Admiral Watson, 45 ; 
 arrives in the river Baleshwar 
 with a detachment of the 39th 
 Foot, 63 ; a statue put up to 
 him in the East India House, 
 178. 
 
 Pondicherry, unsuccessful siege of, 
 9 5 capital of French posses- 
 sions in India, 6i. 
 
 RXj.i DulXb RXm, one of the parties 
 of the plot against Suraj ud 
 Daulah, 68 ; appointed joint 
 
3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 minister to Nazim ud Daulah, 
 
 Raja Sahib, son of Chanda Sahib, 
 besieges Clive at Arcot, 24 et 
 seq, ; is beaten by Clive near 
 Ami, 2S ; and again at 
 Kaveripak, 29. 
 
 Regulating Act, passed in 1773, 
 merits and defects of, 214. 
 
 Rio de Janeiro, Clive detained 
 there for nine months on his 
 first voyage to India, 4, 
 
 Rochford, Lord, Secretary of State, 
 in 1772, confers with Clive, 
 198. 
 
 Roman Senate, Mountstuart 
 Elphinstone describes the 
 divisions of the House of 
 Commons on Clive*s case as 
 * worthy the best days of the 
 Roman Senate,' 302. 
 
 St Frais, M,, commands a French 
 detachment at Plassey, 78. 
 
 St Michaers, Clive elected member 
 for, but unseated on petition, 
 
 Salabatjung, Subahdar of the 
 Dekhan, in alliance with the 
 French in 1758, 104 et seq.^ 
 seven years later formally 
 cedes the Northern Sirkars 
 to the English, 106. 
 
 Salt trade, society established to 
 conduct, 164; disallowed by 
 the Court of Directors, 164. 
 
 Samiavaram, Clive advises occupa- 
 tion of, 33. 
 
 Sandwich, Lord, supports Clive 
 in his candidature for St 
 Michael's, 41. 
 
 Saunders, Mr, Governor of Madras, 
 authorises Clive's expedition 
 against Arcot, 17. 
 
 Scrafton, Mr, undeceives Omi- 
 chand about the sham treaty, 
 
 88 ; endeavours to move 
 
 Clive's suspicions regarding 
 various directors, 182 ; ap- 
 pointed one of the Commis- 
 sioners to reform Indian ad- 
 ministration, but perishes at 
 sea in the frigate Aurora be- 
 tween the Cape and Calcutta, 
 189. 
 
 Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons, appointment of, 
 moved for by Colonel Bur- 
 goyne, and carried, 206 ; its 
 composition, 206 ; its object, 
 213. 
 
 Shah Alam, Emperor of Delhi, See 
 Shahzada. 
 
 Shahzada, the, threatens invasion 
 of Bengal, 67 ; besieges Patna, 
 but retires on the advance of 
 Clive, from whom he receives 
 help in money, 99; as Emperor 
 Shah Alam invades Bengal in 
 concert with the Nawab Vazir 
 and Kasim Ali Khan, but 
 after Buxar repairs to the 
 English camp, 137; confers 
 the Diwani upon the Com- 
 pany, 1545 fails to induce 
 Clive to help him to recover 
 Delhi, 160. 
 
 Shrewsbury, Clive elected member 
 for, 129. 
 
 Shrirangham, an island situated be- 
 tween two branches of the 
 river Kaveri, 33. 
 
 Siyar-ul-Mutakharin, the author 
 of, appeals to God against the 
 misgovernment and oppression 
 of the English, 141. 
 
 Smith, Colonel Richard, one of the 
 brigadiers who supported Clive 
 in the military mutiny in 1 766, 
 169 et seq.; succeeded Clive 
 in command of Bengal army, 
 185 ; Clive's opinion of, 186. 
 
 Speeches, Clive's speeches before 
 the Select Committee, 231 f/ 
 seq., l%y et seq. 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Stanley, Mr, amendment moved 
 by, to General Burgoyne's 
 motion hostile to Clive, ziz. 
 
 Strachey, Henry, Clive's secretary, 
 zi8 ; Clive's letters to him, 
 218 ; present at Clive's death, 
 220 ; recommended to Clive 
 by George Grenville, 263. 
 
 Styche, Clive's birthplace, I. 
 
 Sujah ud Daulah, Nawab Vazir of 
 Oudh, invades Bengal in con- 
 cert vi^ith Kasim Ali Khan 
 and Shah Alam, but is de- 
 feated at Buxar by Sir Hector 
 Munro, 137 ; his treaty with 
 Clive, 153. 
 
 Sullivan, Lawrence, hostility of, to 
 Clive, 127 ; opposes reap- 
 pointment of Clive as 
 Governor of Bengal, 142 et 
 seq:; attacks Clive in the 
 House of Commons, 198 it 
 leq. 
 
 Sumner, Mr, a member of the 
 Bengal Council, dismissed for 
 having signed the letter re- 
 monstrating with the Court 
 of Directors on the style of 
 their correspondence, 123. 
 
 Suraj ud Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, 
 his character, 47 ; the Black 
 Hole outrage, 48 ; his attack 
 upon Calcutta, ^"J'et seq,; his 
 treaty with Clive and Watson, 
 60 ; treacherous as he was 
 cruel, 66 ; distrust of him 
 felt by the leading natives 
 of Bengal as well as by all 
 the English, 67 ; a plot to 
 dethrone him, 68 e^ seq. ; he 
 meets Clive at Plassey, 78 et 
 seq. ; his only faithful general 
 mortally wounded early in 
 the battle, 84; he flies to 
 Murshidabad and thence to 
 Rajmahal, 85, 86 ; is handed 
 over to Mir Jafar, and mur- 
 dered by order of Mir Jafar's 
 son Miran, 86-87. 
 
 Sykes, Mr, a member of the Select 
 Committee sent out with 
 Clive in 1764, 190 ; urged 
 the claims of Warren Hast- 
 ings, 190. 
 
 Thurlow, Lord, Attorney-General, 
 supports the attack upon Clive, 
 209. 
 
 Timari, Fort at, taken by Clive, 
 
 27- 
 
 V 
 
 Vansittart, Henry, appointed, on 
 Clive's recommendation, to 
 succeed him as Governor of 
 Bengal, 131 ; removes Mir 
 Jafar from the Nawabship, 
 132; his agreement with 
 Kasim Ali Khan disallowed 
 by the Council, 134; the 
 weakness of his government 
 described by Sir John Mal- 
 colm and by Lord Justice 
 James, 141 ; appointed mem- 
 ber of Commission of Super- 
 vision, and perishes at sea, 
 188, 189. 
 
 Verelst, Mr, succeeds Clive as 
 Governor of Bengal, 172 ; his 
 qualifications, 187; Clive's 
 opinion of him, 279. 
 
 W 
 
 Wandiwash, battle of, 114. 
 
 Watts, agent at Murshidabad in 
 1757, 66 ; joins Clive at 
 Kalna, 75 ; over-estimated 
 the wealth of Suraj ud Daulah, 
 87; rendered valuable services 
 to Clive before Plassey, 131. 
 
 Watson, Admiral, associated with 
 Clive in attack upon Gheriab 
 
3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 and Suvarndrug, 44-45 ; his 
 attitude regarding prize money, 
 45 j appointed to command 
 the squadron in which Clive's 
 expedition to avenge the Black 
 Hole outrage was sent to Cal- 
 cutta, 49 et seq. ; his perverse 
 obstinacy, 50 et seq.j his 
 attempt to supersede Clive In 
 command of Fort William, 
 53 ; his subsequent co-opera- 
 tion with Clive fairly cordial, 
 55 ; takes part in the capture 
 of Hughli, 56 ; associated 
 with Clive in the treaty with 
 the Nawab, 61 ; opposed to 
 signing treaty with Governor 
 of Chandernagore, 61 ; Clive's 
 high opinion of the conduct 
 of his fleet, 64 ; his refusal to 
 
 sign the fictitious treaty with 
 Omichand, his letter to Clive 
 before Plassey, 71, 72 ; his 
 death, 94 ; Clive's recognition 
 of his worth, 94. 
 
 Wedderburn, Solicitor - General, 
 defends Clive, 212 ; carries a 
 resolution that 'Robert Lord 
 Clive did at the same time 
 render great and meritorious 
 services to his country,' 212. 
 
 Wellesley, Marquis of, his treat- 
 ment by the Directors of the 
 East India Company, 230. 
 
 Wilson, Horace Hayman,the com- 
 mentator on Mill's History of 
 ^ Indiaj 70. 
 
 Wilson, Colonel W. J., historian 
 of the Madras army, 104 
 (footnote). 
 
 THE END 
 
 Colston &> Coy, Limited, Printers, Edinburgh. 
 

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