of Indian policy; and it is not to be forgotten, that whatever he
undertook during his residence in India, he effected. It is much to
be regretted, that his health drove him out of the country, when he
had nearly made up his mind to remain there another year; a period,
short as it was, in which he might have done much to consolidate and
give effect to the system which he had established. The state of
the European population, eager to be rich, and fretting under every
restraint placed on their cupidity, required a hand as firm and steady
as his to keep it in check. It has, indeed, been affirmed, that he
had no capacity for a comprehensive scheme, including any moderate
anticipation of the future. This assertion seems to have been hazarded
on very inadequate grounds. He made many communications at various
times to the Ministry and to the Court of Directors. These, though
chiefly confined to the local and temporary objects for which they
were asked, to plans for remedying defects in the civil or military
establishments, as they were felt, show no deficiency in comprehensive
views, but are full of the deepest observation. It may be safely
affirmed, that the views of no statesman of the times (if we except
Burke, who is an exception to every thing,) contain more political and
practical foresight directed to Indian affairs. And a proof of this
is, that many of the plans which he at that early period proposed,
have since been gradually adopted. He did not conceal his opinion
either from his friends or in Parliament, that he saw no public body
either in England or India duly competent to the administration of our
concerns in the East. He early came to a conclusion that "the charters
granted for the guidance of a limited company of merchants, could not
be adequate to the government of an extensive empire."[213] At the same
time, he justly regarded the British Ministry, the Court of Directors,
and the Court of Proprietors, as all of them profoundly ignorant of
Indian concerns, and as being, from their composition, devised for
totally different objects, very unfit to direct them. These elements,
however, could not be got rid of, and it was evident that any plan
proposed must include them as a portion of it. He always contended,
that the first step towards an improved management of our concerns
in India must be a reform at home, in the constitution of the Court
of Directors and Court of Proprietors. He proposed some changes, not
because they were sufficient, but because they were practicable, and
suggested that the Directors, instead of being changed annually, should
remain in office for several years; and that the business, instead of
coming on in the first instance before all, should be arranged in small
Committees. He suggested, that two of the Directors should be appointed
by the Crown, an idea in which we see the germ of the Board of Control.
In India, he saw that Councils of sixteen equals, were hot-beds
of dissension, rendered the satisfactory transaction of business
impossible, and responsibility null, by diffusing it. He conceived,
that a Council of not more than five persons was infinitely preferable;
that the Government of Bengal should, in cases of exigency, have the
power of issuing orders to the Governments of the other Presidencies;
and that in certain cases the President should have the power, on his
own responsibility, of acting contrary to the opinion of his Council:
the higher classes of English, those concerned in the government,
and at the head of departments, he wished to restrain from trade
altogether, and to pay them ample allowances; to this purpose he would
have devoted the proceeds of the Salt-tax, for such in reality, under
another name, were the gains of the Society of Trade: if their large
salaries did not make them honest, they at least left no pretence for
dishonesty, and turned more strongly against them the moral feelings of
their judges: the Company's civil servants he did not wish to employ
in the lower details of the financial or judicial establishments: he
was earnestly bent on changing as little of the native institutions
as possible; to do at least no harm; to govern India by Indians; to
leave things as they were till we saw our way, reserving for the
English only the reins of government, the general superintendence,
a controlling and directing power, and the command of the military
force. The system which he found, and under which, as all Europeans
then on the spot agreed, the country had reached a degree of prosperity
hardly to be equalled elsewhere in the East, he wished to retain. In
regard to the revenue, a matter of so much practical consequence to
the happiness of every country, he held that the taxes were not to be
extended beyond the state in which we found them, without the greatest
caution; he suggested that Government should grant leases of land, to
prevent the exactions to which the ryots were exposed in the laying on
of the annual impost. To the natives he wished to leave the internal
trade, confining the English to the foreign import and export trade,
as formerly: he was anxious that the natives should have the entire
management of their own concerns, undisturbed as far as possible by the
intrusion of Europeans, whose misconduct, which in many instances had
been carried to a grievous excess, there was at that time no judicial
or political machinery for keeping in order. He did not, however, adopt
the wild idea of introducing English laws into a country for which they
had never been framed. With more wisdom than has even yet been shown by
the Legislature, he recommended that the Company should be authorised
to send out an Attorney-General with some able lawyers, (not certainly,
however, the most proper persons, especially if a majority,) to new
model and regulate the Courts of Justice, and that, with the assistance
of the Governor-General and Council, they should form a system of
regulations proper for our settlements, pointing out the defects that
existed, as well as the proper remedies. He concluded with perfect
truth, "that the attempt to introduce the English laws throughout our
possessions in India would be absurd and impracticable." He foresaw,
from the spirit of the times, that expense was the rock on which the
Government was likely to split, and used every means in his power to
raise barriers against it. It was partly this which made him recommend
that we should confine ourselves to a rich but limited territory, a
small army, and few but well-paid English servants, and not plunge
into the wide sea of Indian politics. He foretold, that if every thing
was to be done directly by Company's servants, and if the expenses of
fortifications and cantonments continued on the extravagant scale then
in operation, the revenues of India, far from affording a surplus to be
conveyed to England, would not long suffice even to support our various
establishments on the spot. His predictions were soon verified; though
there was but an inconsiderable change in the amount of the actual
revenue, yet the expenses of the army, of buildings, fortifications,
commissariat of every department, joined to the ill-conducted wars at
Madras, had, in the course of a few years, increased so much, that the
large free produce which he had left was totally absorbed. Indeed,
such is the natural course of human affairs; and the only question
is, whether even an energy like his, could have rendered possessions
so distant permanently productive. He saw the means of defending our
possessions against the native powers, by well-timed attention to
their operations; but the French, a more formidable enemy, had only
recently lost their Indian possessions, and he looked forward to more
imminent danger from their designs, especially if by their means the
resistance, then only threatened in America, became successful: for
that America, he observes, will sooner or latter become independent,
there can be no question[214]: an observation which, in 1772, when both
the Government and the nation looked upon any resistance to be made by
the Americans as futile, evinced no common sagacity.
To examine the various plans which he furnished, both in India
and Europe, for the improvement of the Company's affairs and
establishments, as well as for the conduct of their external relations,
though to one who traced the progress of Indian policy it might be no
unimportant employment, would occupy more time than could be afforded
in a Memoir like this. The materials are sufficiently ample. Lord
Clive, even when on the worst terms with the managing servants of the
Company, uniformly felt a strong attachment and warm gratitude to the
body itself, to which his early feelings had bound him; and he was
always ready to pour out his knowledge for its benefit. It was a
subject in which he was at home, and he felt a laudable pleasure in the
hopes of benefiting his early patrons, and the nations he had conquered
and ruled, by the matured fruits of his observation and experience.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 168: Dated 9th May, 1771.]
[Footnote 169: This was on the illumination in consequence of the
release from the Tower of the Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver, who had
been committed to custody for imprisoning a Serjeant-at-arms of the
House of Commons.]
[Footnote 170: Then Secretary of State.]
[Footnote 171: 12th May.]
[Footnote 172: This was when a rupture was expected between the Courts
of St. James's and Versailles.]
[Footnote 173: Dated 7th January, 1772.]
[Footnote 174: 21st January, 1772.]
[Footnote 175: Almon's Debates, for 1772, p. 360.; Annual Register,
1772.]
[Footnote 176: A native trader, and agent.]
[Footnote 177: Lord Clive's speech is given in Almon's Debates, and was
published separately.]
[Footnote 178: Almon's Debates.]
[Footnote 179: 13th April.]
[Footnote 180: 10th June.]
[Footnote 181: 15th June.]
[Footnote 182: Walcot, 20th September, 1772.]
[Footnote 183: Letter to Mr. Strachey, dated Walcot, 7th November,
1772.]
[Footnote 184: The Parliament had been summoned to meet before the
Christmas holidays, for the despatch of business.]
[Footnote 185: An abstract of it may be found in the Historical View of
Plans for the Government of British India, Lond. 1793, 4to., pp. 55-70.]
[Footnote 186: Seventh Report of the Committee of Secresy, 1773, pp.
51, 52. The historical articles of the Annual Register for 1772 and
1773 are ably written, and show a great acquaintance with Indian
affairs and the feelings of parties. Mill's History gives a good
abstract of these proceedings.]
[Footnote 187: Lieutenant-General the Hon. ---- Monckton; George
Cuming, Wm. Devaynes, Peter Lascelles, Daniel Wier, and Edward Wheler,
Esquires.]
[Footnote 188: 2d February, 1773.]
[Footnote 189: Mr. Strachey's paper.]
[Footnote 190: Almon's Debates, 1773.]
[Footnote 191: Third Report of the Select Committee, p. 19.]
[Footnote 192: Mr. Sulivan.]
[Footnote 193: A gentleman who was present, on the 3d of May, at the
debate already mentioned, in writing to a friend, observes: "Lord
Clive's speech was certainly a very able one, but it was not calculated
to conciliate matters. He laid about him on all sides: he reprehended
the Court of Directors, past and present: the Court of Proprietors, the
citizens of London, the country gentlemen of England, the servants of
the Company abroad, the Secret and Select Committees, the Opposition,
the Minister and Ministry. He paid a compliment to the King. He
declared he would support Government, where he could do it honourably.
He offended the Opposition, without gaining the Minister. I suspected
so then,--I am now convinced of it." Of the debate of the 10th he says,
"I was in the House all this day, and had the mortification to hear the
transactions in India, for these last sixteen years, treated, without
distinction, as a disgrace to this nation; but without the smallest
idea of restoring to the injured natives of India the territories and
revenues said to have been so unjustly acquired."]
[Footnote 194: The letter of 30th of September, 1765, from the Select
Committee to the Court of Directors, in which par. 5-13. contain the
details of the delinquency of Mr. Johnstone, the Governor, and Council.]
[Footnote 195: The question relating to Meer Jaffier's legacy, the
subject of the Fifth Report of the Select Committee.]
[Footnote 196: This report of Colonel Burgoyne's speech is from the
notes in pencil of a member who was present.]
[Footnote 197: It is to be regretted that no correct report of Lord
Clive's speech has been preserved. The notes now given, chiefly from
Almon's Debates, have the air of being made up of fragments of speeches
delivered at different times at this crisis. Some assistance has been
derived from a letter of Archibald Sarton, Esq., who was present.]
[Footnote 198: Mr. Samuel Wilks.]
[Footnote 199: "On this point," says a well-informed writer in the
Annual Register (1773, p. 107.), "the grand struggle was made. Those
who speculate, observed an extraordinary division of those who, on all
other occasions, acted together. The Minister declared in favour of
the words of censure on Lord Clive, and divided in the minority. The
Attorney-General was a principal in the attack; the Solicitor-General
managed the defence. The courtiers went different ways. The most
considerable part of the opposition supported Lord Clive, though he had
joined administration and supported them in their proceedings against
the Company."]
[Footnote 200: There is a very great confusion in the Parliamentary
Reports regarding the proceedings connected with the attack on Lord
Clive. Reports were then published only surreptitiously, and were often
incorrect. The dates of the different debates are given differently in
different publications; and speeches are referred to wrong occasions,
or several mixed up together. This is the case even with Almon's
Debates, in which what is given as Lord Clive's speech of 3d May, 1773,
contains portions, evidently inaccurate, of his speeches on that and
future days.]
[Footnote 201: 14th October, 1773.]
[Footnote 202: Adolphus's History of England, vol. ii. p. 25. _note._]
[Footnote 203: Dr. John Moore.]
[Footnote 204: These attempts had the effect of making known some
instances of Lord Clive's disinterested conduct. The following is an
extract of a letter from Mr. Sage to Captain Archibald Swinton (March,
1774), who had written to inquire into the truth of some of these
allegations:--"In contradiction of the imputation on Lord Clive, of
having accepted of presents when he was last in India, I declare that I
never heard of his receiving any, beyond the congratulatory khilats or
dresses[205]; and I remember, when I was Chief at Benares, that Bulwaut
Sing, when he went to meet Lord Clive at Chupprah, carried with him two
very fine diamonds, in order to present them to his Lordship, which I
know he brought back again, and declared that Lord Clive had refused to
accept them." Letter in _Swinton MSS._
The testimony of another gentleman, who believed that he had some
reason to complain of Lord Clive, and who acknowledges that he was,
at the time, prejudiced against him, directly contradicts a similar
report. "It will be easily believed," says he, in a letter written
after Lord Clive's death, "that Lord Clive, who had been sent to India
to reform abuses, had left many enemies in Bengal, who sedulously
circulated reports unfavourable to him; among the rest, that he had
amassed immense wealth, when he was occupied in making the political
arrangements with the Mogul and his ministers. Although mortified and
disappointed at what I considered his Lordship's neglect of me, in
justice to him and to myself, I must be allowed to say, that after
the most diligent inquiries into Lord Clive's negotiations at that
time, both with the Mogul and Sujah-u-Dowlah, so far from having made
any addition to his fortune at that period, he had refused to accept
the present even of a diamond ring. In consequence of some dispute
between the Vizier and his deputy, Sir Robert Barker was directed, by
the government of Calcutta, to pay Sujah-u-Dowlah a visit at Fiezabad,
in which I, of course, accompanied him.[206] It may be supposed that
I availed myself of such an opportunity of endeavouring to ascertain
the truth or falsehood of the above-mentioned reports. And I do not
hesitate to declare, most solemnly, that Sujah-u-Dowlah himself
personally assured me, that it was true he had offered him a large
sum of money, together with a casket of valuable jewels; but with
great politeness, yet without a moment's hesitation, the offer had
been peremptorily refused."--"Few men, under similar circumstances,"
continues the narrator, "would have refused to have added at least half
a million to his fortune. At the instant this information was received,
it is possible some little puerile resentment was still lurking in
my mind against his Lordship; but, from that time, I have always
strenuously contradicted all such groundless reports, and, to the best
of my feeble abilities, have done justice to his character." These
extracts are not given to do honour to Lord Clive's character; but,
when an accusation is made, an answer is looked for, and it is enough
if it wipes off a stain. Lord Clive, during his last residence in
India, was under a covenant to receive no presents, and that engagement
he faithfully fulfilled. In doing so, he merely acted as an honest
man. But his upright discharge of his duty, in enforcing the same rule
against others, converted into enemies numbers who, by his honour and
vigilance, were prevented from benefiting by a custom, that from a
change of circumstances had become an intolerable abuse.]
[Footnote 205: These were all allowed for in his accounts as Governor,
which he had presented to the Company.]
[Footnote 206: As Persian Interpreter.]
[Footnote 207: 15th May, 1765.]
[Footnote 208: It is painful to perceive that a writer so intelligent,
so industrious, and so anxious to be impartial, as Mr. Mill, should
have conceived what, in several instances, seem to be unjust prejudices
against Lord Clive. Thus, he blames him for superseding the Council by
the Select Committee. But it is clear that if Lord Clive had allowed
his acts to be controlled by the Council, as it was constituted, "the
sixteen Governors," he could have effected nothing. All that he did was
in spite of them. The majority seem to have been thoroughly corrupt.
It was only by means of the Select Committee, which he animated with
his own spirit, that any redress of grievances was possible. Lord Clive
always saw and wrote that these unwieldy Councils were totally unfit
for the government of the country; and every successive legislature
has sanctioned his opinion, by reducing their numbers more and more. A
large executive council and a large representative body, nobody knows
better than Mr. M., are totally different things. If the one is a
blessing, the other is a nuisance.]
[Footnote 209: Political India, vol. ii. p. 29-32.]
[Footnote 210: Seir Mutaqherin, vol. iii. p. 150. _Note._]
[Footnote 211: Biog. Britannica, 2d edit., _art._ Clive.]
[Footnote 212: Biog. Brit., ut supra.]
[Footnote 213: Historical Views, &c. p. 57.]
[Footnote 214: Historical View of Plans, &c. p. 62.]
APPENDIX.
AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
AND THE
RIGHT HON. LORD CLIVE,
RESPECTING
THE FUND
ESTABLISHED FOR RELIEF OF THE HONOURABLE
COMPANY'S MILITARY,
_Dated April 6. 1770_:
TOGETHER WITH
GENERAL REGULATIONS
FOR
TRANSACTING THE BUSINESS OF THE SAID FUND,
AND
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PENSIONERS.
[NOTES TO AGREEMENT
see TN at end of book]
[Sidenote A: The eight lacks to bear 8 per cent. interest.]
[Sidenote B: Interest to be paid in London.]
[Sidenote C: Court of Directors and their successors to be perpetual
trustees.]
[Sidenote D: The trust to commence from the 29th of September, 1769.]
[Sidenote E: To be for relief and maintenance of European officers
and soldiers, invalids or superannuated, their widows, or widows of
officers and soldiers dying in the service.]
[Sidenote F: Commissioned, staff, or warrant officers, to have half the
ordinary stated pay they were entitled to whilst in service.]
[Sidenote G: Serjeants, corporals, and private men, the like pay as the
Chelsea pensioners of the same degrees.]
[Sidenote H: Widows of officers and soldiers, one fourth of the
ordinary stated pay their husbands enjoyed whilst in service.]
[Sidenote I: To be paid yearly and every year during their natural
lives.]
[Sidenote J: Widows to be admitted on such testimonials only as the
Court of Directors shall approve.]
[Sidenote K: To continue during widowhood, and no longer.]
[Sidenote L: No officer or soldier to be admitted, unless disabled by
wounds, or rendered incapable by age or other accidents. The Directors
to be judges.]
[Sidenote M: Officers and soldiers must produce a certificate from
their commanding officer, of their being invalids and unfit for service
in India; and an approbation of such certificate from the Governor
and Council. The Court may admit petitioners in the Company's service
residing in England, if they shall judge them fit objects.]
[Sidenote N: A colonel must swear he is not possessed of, or
entitled to, real and personal estate to the value of 4,000_l._; a
lieutenant-colonel, of 3,000_l._; a major, of 2,500_l._; a captain, of
2,000_l._; a lieutenant, of 1,000_l._; and an ensign of 750_l._]
[Sidenote O: Widows must lay before the Court satisfactory evidence
that their respective husbands did not die worth the sums above
specified.]
[Sidenote [P]: To be entitled from the times of their arrival in
England.]
[Sidenote [Q]: All disputes or doubts concerning qualifications of
petitioners, distribution, or times of payment, to be decided by the
Court of Directors only.]
[Sidenote [R]: Interest on the eight lacks due 29th September 1769,
value 24,128_l._, to be erected into capital, and to carry 8 per cent.
interest from that time.]
[Sidenote [S]: The contingent fund is to be appropriated for all
incident expenses of carrying the fund into execution, and for such
objects of charity belonging to the military, their widows or families,
as the Court shall think fit.]
[Sidenote T: If the Company should lose or part with their territorial
possessions in Bengal, so that Lord Clive's jaghire should cease before
the term agreed upon, or if the Company should cease to maintain a
military force in India before 1784, in either case the five lacks to
be restored to Lord Clive or his executors, but chargeable with the
proportion of all the pensions assigned on the eight lacks generally.]
[Sidenote U: If the Company employ no military force in India after
1784, the interest of the eight lacks to be applied for relief of
officers and seamen, invalids or superannuated, and the widows of such
of them as shall die in their service, during widowhood only.]
[Sidenote V: If after 1784, the Company shall cease to employ either
troops or shipping, they shall repay Lord Clive, or his executors, the
five lacks chargeable with the pensions that may then be upon them.]
AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE RIGHT HON. LORD CLIVE.
(see transcribers note at end of book)
[Preamble.]