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[167], 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 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 contradict the opinion I profess to have of
your understanding, 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."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 130: These statues were executed by Scheemaker, and placed,
Pocock's in the centre, over the Chairman's seat, Clive's on the right
hand, in an advanced and speaking attitude, and Lawrence's on the left.
The statues are larger than life, and in the Roman costume.]
[Footnote 131: Clive's letter to Orme, 29th September, 1765.]
[Footnote 132: 1764.]
[Footnote 133: 9th December, 1765.]
[Footnote 134: Letter to Lord Clive, 17th May, 1766.]
[Footnote 135: 26th September, 1766.]
[Footnote 136: 6th May, 1767.]
[Footnote 137: The preceding narrative is chiefly extracted from notes
of Sir Henry Strachey on the subject.]
[Footnote 138: 30th July, 1766.]
[Footnote 139: Letter, 22d November, 1766.]
[Footnote 140: Also a member of the Administration.]
[Footnote 141: 25th November, 1766.]
[Footnote 142: 4th March, 1767.]
[Footnote 143: Letter to Lord Clive, 4th March, 1767.]
[Footnote 144: 30th December, 1766.]
[Footnote 145: 12th June.]
[Footnote 146: 29th June, 1767.]
[Footnote 147: 6th May.]
[Footnote 148: 18th March, 1767.]
[Footnote 149: 25th March, 1767.]
[Footnote 150: 23d September, 1767.]
[Footnote 151: Letter, 2d October.]
[Footnote 152: Letter, dated Thursday, apparently 1st October.]
[Footnote 153: Letter, dated Walcot, 6th October, 1767.]
[Footnote 154: Letter to Harry Verelst, Esq., dated Bath, 7th November,
1767.]
[Footnote 155: Paris, 9th February, 1768.]
[Footnote 156: Letter to Mr. Beecher, dated Montpelier, 3d March, 1768.]
[Footnote 157: Letter, dated Wotton, 28th May, 1769.]
[Footnote 158: Defect in the MS.]
[Footnote 159: Letter, dated 10th February, 1769.]
[Footnote 160: 10th February, 1769.]
[Footnote 161: 5th March, 1769.]
[Footnote 162: 22d December, 1769.]
[Footnote 163: 8th April, 1771.]
[Footnote 164: 5th March, 1769.]
[Footnote 165: This letter fills forty-eight pages, and is a very
curious and valuable document in Indian history.]
[Footnote 166: 12th November, 1768.]
[Footnote 167: Clive, in many of his letters, warns those who were
placed in offices of trust against that easy good-nature which can find
its proper place only in private life. Writing to Sir Robert Barker,
one of the friends whom he most valued (8th October, 1766), in answer
to a letter which contained some remonstrances on certain opinions
which he was said to have expressed, he remarks, "The part I have acted
towards you ought to have precluded every suspicion injurious to the
sufficiency of your abilities, or to the integrity of your conduct,
and shown that my doubts (if they can be so called) of your not at
all times acting up to your character and station, could only proceed
from the knowledge I have of your great good-nature and mildness of
disposition,--qualities which though amiable in private life, have ever
some ascendency over the dictates of reason, and will sometimes, in
public life, enervate even the principle and spring of action."]
CHAP. XVIII.
While Lord Clive was every day more and more desirous of disengaging
himself from the vexatious and unsatisfactory annoyances of Leadenhall
Street politics, yet unwilling to forsake altogether the means which
they afforded him of promoting the interest of his friends, and of
influencing beneficially the government of our Indian empire, as to
the fate of which it was impossible that he could be indifferent, the
progress of events drew him once more conspicuously forward on the
stage of public life, and desperate attempts were made to ruin at once
his fortune and his reputation. It was his fate to suffer, not for
his vices or errors, but for his virtues. His upright and honourable
discharge of his painful duties, during his second government of
Bengal, was at the root of all the persecutions which he afterwards
endured. The men whom he made his enemies, by a firm yet temperate
exercise of authority, resolved, if they could not justify their own
conduct, to embitter, to the utmost of their power, the feelings of
the statesman who had disturbed them in the career of unlawful gain.
They had attempted to injure him in the courts at the India House. The
changes in public affairs now enabled them to point an attack against
him on a larger theatre, in the British Parliament.
We have seen that the rumours of the boundless wealth of India, the
extent of the provinces conquered, and the amount of the revenue
acquired, had raised the question to whom those conquests belonged,--to
the trading company that had made them, or to the country and sovereign
under whose auspices they were made? and that, to prevent the decision
of this question, for which neither party was perfectly prepared, a
compromise had been entered into between Government and the Directors,
in 1767, and afterwards renewed. But disasters and mismanagement in
India and at home had, in the course of a few years, reduced the
Company's affairs to such distress that, far from being able to pay the
sum stipulated, it became very problematical if they would be able to
discharge their ordinary debts. The Directors were willing to throw the
blame on their servants abroad, whom they charged for acting contrary
to their orders; while they, on their part, defended themselves as
they best could from the imputations cast upon them. Reports of
oppression in India were widely circulated; and the private fortunes
rapidly accumulated, that were every day brought home from that country
(fortunes large in themselves and exaggerated by report), were held by
many sufficiently to prove the truth of the charges.
The British Ministry, at that moment, contained no man of extraordinary
talent, and its members were averse to any extensive views of civil
polity: besides, they had their hands too full of American affairs, and
of internecine quarrels, which ran very high, to leave them any wish to
launch into the wide ocean of Indian concerns, of which, in common with
all the rest of the nation, they were profoundly ignorant. At the same
time, the progress of events made it necessary that something should be
attempted. So early as May, 1771, the Ministers, who were aware that
from no individual could so much and so sound information and advice be
received as from Lord Clive, had shown a desire to confer with him. As
he had always been a steady supporter of the politics of Mr. Grenville,
who had long been in opposition, he was not then in habits of personal
communication with any of the leading members of the Government.
To obviate this difficulty recourse was had to Mr. Wedderburn, the
Solicitor-General and Lord Clive's personal friend, who wrote him a
letter[168], in which he observes, "There are no public news in town.
We had a little mobbing last night[169], but not to any great excess.
My neighbour, the Speaker, had his windows mauled exceedingly; but, by
great good fortune, the gentlemen were so busy with his that they left
mine untouched.
"Lord Rochford[170], a few days ago, desired that I would ask your
Lordship if you would allow him to talk over Indian affairs with
you. He says that it is his duty to bestow more attention than has
hitherto been employed upon an object of the utmost consequence to
the nation, and that he wishes to improve or to form his ideas from
your conversation. I told him it was uncertain when you would return
to town; but I was persuaded, your zeal for the public service would
incline you to assist Government with your advice, whenever that
subject was taken into serious consideration. I believe the answer was
such as your Lordship would have wished me to make; and I must do him
the justice to say, he held a very proper language upon the subject of
India, and seemed to feel the importance of it."
Lord Clive, in his answer[171], observes, "I am happy to find Lord
Rochford thinks so justly of the importance of our possessions in the
East Indies; and yet in these times of (discord) and confusion, much,
I fear, cannot be expected from his laudable endeavours to benefit the
public by securing and improving our acquisitions in those parts. When
I returned to England in the year 1767, my thoughts were much taken
up with the flattering prospect of assisting Government to complete a
work which I had only begun; and I intimated as much to the King in a
private audience which I was honoured with soon after my arrival; but
a tedious and severe illness prevented me from carrying my ideas into
execution, and afforded me leisure for reflection. The result was, that
I soon perceived that unless a settled administration, possessed of
both resolution and power adequate to the object, undertook thoroughly
to engage Parliament in the business, no material advantage could be
obtained for the nation by any light I could give. After my recovery,
I had many conversations with Mr. Grenville upon the subject, who, to
the last, was of the same way of thinking. Mr. Strachey has, with
the materials I have furnished him, undertaken that task; but I think
he cannot complete the work in less than eighteen months. You are
acquainted with my design of going to the Spa, and spending the next
winter in Italy. I can only be in London a few days at the latter end
of July. If that time should be convenient to Lord Rochford, and he
will signify his pleasure by a few lines, I shall be ready to pay my
respects to his Lordship, and give him all the verbal information in my
power."
A severe return of ill health seems to have prevented Lord Clive from
visiting the Spa, and, probably, from meeting Lord Rochford. But the
continuation of unfavourable reports from India, and the approaching
meeting of Parliament, made the Ministers more desirous than ever
of some communication of opinions with him. The Solicitor-General
accordingly wrote his Lordship the following letter:--
"My dear Lord,
"I have been confined to the house since my arrival in town, by a
cold, till this morning, that I was obliged to go to Lord North's. As
soon as the business which brought me to him was finished, he began
upon the subject of the East Indies; to which, he said, the attention
of Administration was now very seriously turned. He seemed to feel
strongly the necessity of taking some steps immediately for the
preservation of so important an object, and the difficulty of forming
any proper measure for that purpose. From the tenor of the conversation
it appeared to me that no idea had as yet presented itself that could
be the foundation of any plan; and he expressed the strongest wish to
receive that instruction upon the subject which your Lordship alone can
give him. I took it upon me to say that your Lordship had never given
any Administration reason to think that you would decline doing that
service to the public, but that you had never been called upon; nor
had it ever appeared to be an object of real attention to Government.
He seemed very desirous that I should acquaint you how much it was now
become the object of their most earnest attention, and that it would
give him the utmost satisfaction to be able to form his own ideas upon
yours. I did not undertake the commission with so much frankness as
I should have done, if it had been only to go from Downing Street to
Berkeley Square; and this evening I received the enclosed letter, which
I was desired to convey to your Lordship.
"From Lord North's I went to Lord Rochford, who took up the same
subject, and, as his manner is, with more eagerness than the other.
He desired me to tell your Lordship, that he had employed himself
in forming a _Précis_ of the Indian affairs, which he wished to
communicate to you; that he was convinced you thought alike with him as
to the evils that now subsist, and that you knew, much better than he
could, what were the proper remedies for them.
"I have related to you, as shortly as I could, the purport of two
pretty long conversations, to which I can add very little of my own
observation, having scarcely seen any body till this morning; except
that I understand a great many plans are forming by different people
upon this subject, which, it is generally supposed, must, in some
manner, be taken up this winter. I heard of no specific proposition
that had been mentioned to Government, in either of my conversations,
except the old one of a Triennial Direction, which, to be sure, by
itself, will not mend the matter very much. It is now certain, what you
always supposed, that the Duc de Choiseuil had determined[172] to begin
his attack in the East Indies, and the blow would have been struck at
Bengal.
"It might seem odd if I omitted to say to your Lordship, upon the
former part of my letter, that I am very much persuaded, both the
ministers I have seen, and particularly the last, will pursue any plan
you point out. I have had other conversations with him formerly, upon
the general state of Indian affairs, and his ideas seem to coincide
very much with yours. Lord North seems to be quite open upon the
subject, and as he has no prejudice to bias him, I should form the same
conclusion with regard to him.
"Lincoln's Inn Fields,
29th Oct. 1771."
On the 14th of November Mr. Wedderburn writes to Lord Clive: "I
delivered your Lordship's letter to L.N., who seemed to be extremely
happy by the manner in which you received his application. From the
inquiries which he made about your engagements in the country, I
imagine he is very desirous of seeing you in town. But that matter
rests more properly with him, and I only said I was very sure you
would be very ill pleased to be brought up to no purpose. The other
Lord is in the country this week, but returns on Monday next. I should
conjecture that his ideas are more forward upon the affairs of the
East than your correspondent's. I am told that the Directors have
compromised the affair of the tea-duties with the Treasury; but they
have not done me the honour to acquaint me upon what terms, though
in the outset of the business, I had some share in bringing about an
agreement for the Company. There seems to be a good deal of ill-humour
at present against the Directors, which they may feel the effects of,
if the alarm at the present state of affairs in India is not quieted
soon."
The party then in power among the Directors was hostile to Lord Clive,
who for several years, chiefly by the weight of his personal influence,
had excluded them from office. Mr. Sulivan, who was their leader, and
some others, bore him the most rancorous personal animosity. It is not
improbable that they had heard of the communication thus opened between
Lord Clive and the Ministers, and that considering it as pregnant
with consequences prejudicial to their own interests, they resolved
to take some decided step to palsy the effects of his authority in
the discussions that were approaching. Perhaps the slight paid to Mr.
Wedderburn, and alluded to in the foregoing extract, may be traced
to his intimacy with Lord Clive, or even to his supposed agency in
bringing about a meeting with the Ministers.
However that may be, just a fortnight before the meeting of Parliament,
Lord Clive, without having had any previous communication made to him
on the part of the Directors, received a dry official letter[173] from
the Company's Secretary, informing him that the Court of Directors
had lately received several papers containing charges respecting the
management of the Company's affairs in Bengal, wherein his Lordship was
made a party; enclosing copies of them, and acquainting his Lordship,
that if he had any observations to make, the Court of Directors would
be glad to receive them as expeditiously as might be convenient for his
Lordship.
Lord Clive, on perusing these charges, which were anonymous, at
once perceived the purpose for which they were thus seasonably made
and communicated. In his answer, which he addressed to the Court of
Directors, he remarks,--"You have not been pleased to inform me from
whom you received these 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 confutation 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, contradictory 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."
The charges were those which he afterwards enumerated and repelled in
his speech in the House of Commons on the 30th of March following.
The resolution of Ministers to call the public attention to Indian
affairs was sufficiently indicated in the Speech from the Throne[174],
in which the affairs of the East India Company were plainly alluded
to. "The concerns of this country," his Majesty was made to say, "are
so various and extensive, as to require the most vigilant and active
attention; and some of them, as well from remoteness of place as from
other circumstances, are so peculiarly liable to abuses and exposed to
danger, that the interposition of the Legislature for their protection
may become necessary. If in any such instances, either for supplying
defects or remedying abuses, you shall find it requisite to provide
any new laws, you may depend upon my ready concurrence in whatever may
best contribute to the attainment of these salutary ends." Mr. Vane,
who seconded the Address in the House of Commons, insisted that the
malversation of the East India Company's servants called loudly for
interposition; that new laws and regulations were become necessary;
that at present the Company had not sufficient powers over their
servants to enforce obedience to their orders, or to prevent them from
accumulating enormous fortunes at the expense of their masters; and
that their exorbitances in other respects might, in their consequences,
occasion the entire loss of those distant dominions to Great Britain.
The subject was not, however, immediately taken up by any Member, and
some time passed without any further reference to that part of his
Majesty's Speech.
But it was not dropped. On the 30th March, Mr. Sulivan, who was then
Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors, moved for leave to bring
in a bill "for the better regulation of the affairs of the East India
Company, and of their servants in India, and for the due administration
of justice in Bengal." He said that the object of the bill was to
restrain the Governor and Council from all trade; and to establish a
proper mode of administering justice, by extending the authority of
the Court of Justice at Calcutta over all Bengal. It was alleged by
those who supported the motion, that the bad state of our affairs in
India was owing to the little power which the Court of Directors had
to punish their servants, either for disobedience of orders, or for
malpractices in the country; that the power of trading that had been
granted to the Governors, when we had mere factories on the sea-coast,
was no longer suitable to their duties, now that they were called
upon to govern our wide and important dominions; that their interests
and duties had become inconsistent; and that the system for the
administration of public justice in Bengal was quite insufficient for
its objects: and, in the course of the debates, many reflections were
cast out, and charges made or insinuated, against former Governors of
the country. On the other hand, it was contended that inquiry should
precede legislation; that the House was not in possession of facts to
guide it aright; that inquiry would probably show that the evils were
too deep-seated to be remedied by the proposed bill; and, especially,
that the Court of Directors, and the General Courts of Proprietors,
were themselves much to blame for many of the evils complained of;
that the sending out a few persons, learned in the laws of England, as
judges, to such a country, was quite inadequate to the end in view;
above all, as it was not yet determined by what laws the inhabitants
were to be governed.[175]
Many of the most important changes in the bill had long before been
suggested by Lord Clive to the Company. But he disapproved of others of
its details, and still more of the arguments by which it was supported.
He had long been an object of attack and hostility to those by whom the
bill was introduced. The late communication from the Court of Directors
left him no doubts of their feelings; and, as he saw himself not
obscurely aimed at, both in the motion and in the speeches in support
of it, he took occasion to enter into a long justification of his
conduct from the charges that had been recently brought against him.
These charges were known to the public; and he wished to take the most
public and solemn mode of answering them.
"It is with great diffidence," said he, "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
confidence 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
leave to remove this impression, and to endeavour to restore myself to
that 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 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."
After mentioning the critical and dangerous situation of the Company's
affairs, when in 1764 he was called upon, by a General Court, to leave
his family and the enjoyment of wealth and ease, to take upon himself
the management of their affairs in a distant and unhealthy climate
(an undertaking in which he engaged from a point of honour, and from
a principle of gratitude), he observes, that on his arrival in Bengal
he found his powers disputed by the Council; that in the discharge of
his difficult duty three paths lay before him: the first, to take the
government as he found it, and carry it on upon the same principles;
by which he might have returned to England with an immense fortune,
but condemned by justice and honour: the second, to have given up the
commonwealth, and to have left Bengal without an effort to save it.
"The third path," says he, "was intricate. Dangers and difficulties
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 Company required a
vigorous exertion, and I took the resolution of cleansing the Augean
stable.