whom I had the highest opinion) is by no means the man of integrity
or abilities that I took him to be; being deeper in the mire than
the rest, and who appears to me to have been seduced and led astray
by Johnstone and Leycester, having never had any will or opinion of
his own, since he came to the chair. Indeed, the dignity of
governor is sunk even beyond contempt itself; and the name of
council only heard of in these parts. Would you believe that in his
letters to the Nabob and others he has submitted to write, 'I and
the council?'
"We are waiting the arrival of the Nabob and his ministry, to
determine whether we shall suspend them the service, or represent
matters in a general light leaving to the Directors to determine
their state; though I am persuaded they will never wait such a
decision, having all of them received large fortunes which they
bare-facedly confess, for absolutely and precipitately concluding
the late treaty with the young Nabob; not waiting for our
approbation, or leaving it in our power to rectify the least
tittle, without being guilty of a breach of faith.
"The large sums of money already received, and obligations given
for the rest, on account of this treaty, are so very notorious
through the whole town, and they themselves have taken such little
pains to conceal them, that we cannot without forfeiting our honour
and reputation possibly avoid a retrospection, as far back as the
receipt of the covenants and Meer Jaffier's death. If we should
call upon you hereafter for the assistance of Messrs. Broke,
Russell, Kelsall, Floyer, and two or three more, we are persuaded
your zeal for the service will not let you hesitate a moment about
sending them by the first conveyance. However, you will keep the
contents of this paragraph to yourself, till you hear from the
committee or me upon the subject.
"I have employed Mr. Vansittart[245] as Persian interpreter, but
cannot admit him to that share of confidence I wish to do, until
those matters are ended entirely, out of a point of delicacy
towards him."
Clive addressed a letter to Mr. Spencer at this period[246], which is
singularly illustrative of that bold and open manner which led him to
speak and write his sentiments with little if any of that reserve and
discretion which are necessary to less vigorous minds to insure their
unobstructed progress through life. Mr. Spencer was at this time still
in Calcutta.
"I have read over all the consultations from the death of the late
Nabob, Jaffier Ali Cawn, to the 4th April, 1765, in which it does
not appear to me that you and the gentlemen have given any solid
reasons for thus precipitately concluding a solemn treaty with the
present young Nabob. There could have been no danger in declining
an absolute conclusion of the treaty, until our arrival, which you
know was expected every day. I am most sensibly affected at the
treatment I have received from you and the gentlemen touching my
jaghire. The instructing your deputies to apply to the Nabob for a
sunnud to confirm the agreement made by the Company and me was
officious, and contrary to the instructions of the Court of
Directors, who more than once, in their last letter of the 1st of
June, say, this matter is to be conducted by Lord Clive in
conjunction with the council. Such a proceeding carries with it a
reflection upon my integrity, as if it was doubted whether I should
make use of the power I was invested with to perform what I had so
solemnly engaged to perform. However, before I leave India, I will
endeavour to convince this part of the world upon what principles I
act."
Clive was at this period most anxious to make peace with the native
states; and among other reasons that led him to seek this object, one of
the principal was, to establish subordination[247] in the army, and to
correct abuses in the civil administration, neither of which it was easy
to effect while war existed. One of his first steps had been to
establish the supremacy of the committee, which consisted only of five
members, over the council which had sixteen, including the chiefs of all
the principal factories. The members of council could not be expected to
suffer patiently the execution of measures, which not only reduced their
influence and power, but threatened investigation into their past
conduct, and destroyed their golden prospects for the future. A party
was soon formed against Clive, the head of which was Mr. Leycester.[248]
But one of the most able and energetic of Clive's opponents was Mr. John
Johnstone, who had distinguished himself for his zeal and activity when
employed with Colonel Forde at the capture of Masulipatam, and in
various other services. Mr. Johnstone was, as has been stated, one of
the members of the committee who had been the instruments of placing the
young Nabob on the throne, and who had received presents which they were
not disposed to return. On the contrary, they pleaded the example which
others, and especially Clive himself, had given, and refused to admit
that there was any just ground for considering conduct as criminal in
them which had been approved in their predecessors, placed under
circumstances which, according to their statement, were not essentially
dissimilar.
Clive[249], disregarding opposition, recorded his opinion that the
treaty with the Nabob was formed with precipitation; and while he
expressed in the most open and bold manner his opinion as to the motives
which had influenced those by whom it had been concluded, he declared
his determination to exercise his full powers to correct
mal-administration, to enforce the signature, by the civil servants, of
the covenant, as ordered by the Directors, which had hitherto been
evaded[250]; and above all, to put a stop to the shameful abuses and
wrongs which had arisen from Europeans in the civil service, and free
merchants engaging in the inland trade.
He was quite aware of all the odium and hostility which the sudden and
great reform he contemplated would bring upon him, both in India and
England; but, from the whole tenor of his private letters of this date
it is obvious, that the knowledge of this, so far from dispiriting, only
encouraged him to the great efforts he made. The following is an extract
of a letter to Mr. Sykes of the 29th June on the subject:—
"I fear the military as well as civil are so far gone in luxury
and debauchery, that it will require the utmost exertion of an
united committee to save the Company from destruction. However, let
us always appeal to the rectitude of our intentions, and we shall
be enabled to complete the arduous undertaking with great
satisfaction and honour to ourselves. Remember me to Verelst in the
kindest manner; tell him the Company and myself have no other
dependence, but upon the justness of his and your principles."
Lord Clive's anxiety to conclude a peace, made him determine,
immediately after his arrival, to proceed to Patna. He had also several
arrangements to effect at Moorshedabad[251], where affairs had fallen
into great confusion. His intention was to proceed, after settling
affairs in Bengal, to Bahar; and his colleagues in the committee
delegated to him their power to conclude a settlement with Sujah Dowla
and the Emperor of Delhi, with or without the aid of Brigadier General
Carnac.[252] Lord Clive had, however, left Calcutta but a short time,
before he was embarrassed by the wavering conduct of Mr. Sumner, the
senior member of the committee. His Lordship had proposed, for strong
and obvious reasons, that the members of council should be reduced from
sixteen to twelve, and that the chiefs of subordinate factories should
not be included. Their being in council, he argued, gave them an
increased local influence and power, that was often abused; and the
council were slow and reluctant to censure or punish the acts, however
much they disapproved of them, of members of their own body. Another
evil arose out of this system. Rise to council was in fact by seniority;
for when nothing appeared on record against an individual, his claim to
that station was almost invariably admitted. Mr. Sumner was adverse to
any change of this system. Clive, though annoyed at his conduct, which
he thought too compromising, endeavoured by every argument he could use,
to reclaim him to that decided course which he conceived it the duty of
the committee to pursue, and from which it was important they should not
be diverted, either by the opinions or remonstrances of the council: Mr.
Sykes continued firmly to support the Governor, but he was called away
to his duties at the court of the Nabob at Moorshedabad; and Mr. Verelst
had been before nominated to the station of supervisor of Burdwan and
Midnapore.
Placed under these circumstances, Lord Clive made every effort to
convince Mr. Sumner of the necessity of giving him a decided support
against the opposition raised by the council.
"I hope," he observes on one occasion, "my last letter will have
convinced you of the insignificancy of the struggles of the gentlemen of
council, as well as of their power, when compared with that of the
committee. If you will but convince yourself that they have laid
themselves under such a censure that nothing can excuse them at home,
and that the committee's upright and spirited conduct must gain the
universal applause, you will treat them with that contempt which they
deserve, by never suffering them to give a vote on any subject whatever,
when once it has fallen under consideration of the committee.
"But to convince you what opinion even Mr. Sulivan and our enemies must
have of our conduct, I refer you to the two enclosed letters of Mr.
Palk, who is Mr. Sulivan's oracle. Besides, I have seen a letter of his
to Mr. George Vansittart, wherein he speaks in the highest terms of what
we are about, and the absolute necessity of a reformation.
"The behaviour of the council is so shameless, abandoned, and
ungrateful, that I know not whether I shall not produce fresh
accusations against them, in that the subordinate chiefs, down to the
writers, have laid all the zemindars under contribution, of which I
shall soon be in possession of the most authentic proofs."
In almost all Clive's letters written at this period he dwells upon the
same subjects, expresses his opinion that the covenants should be
executed, and depicts the extent and enormity of the prevailing abuses
and corruption in the interior of the country, particularly by the
natives, whom men with local influence and power have employed as
agents. These have (as he states), by their exactions and tyranny,
rendered the English name odious.
The sentiments he entertained of his council are fully given in a letter
to Mr. Sykes, under date the 10th August.
"The behaviour of the council has convinced me they are children
and fools, as well as knaves, and I am not at all concerned, on the
Company's account, that they have demeaned themselves in the manner
you represent; for we may now, with great propriety, let the
sentiments of humanity give way to justice. For my own part, I am
determined, as one, to show them no more mercy; indeed it now
becomes necessary, as well for our own vindication as for the
advantage of the Company, to make an example of them, and represent
them in their proper colours to the Court of Directors.
"I wish you would get ready the Dinagepoor Rajah's evidence, as
well as the evidence of others, concerning Mr. Gray's conduct at
Malda, against we assemble at Calcutta; and also what other
evidences of other gentlemen whose conduct deserves our censure. I
can't help thinking Leycester has been guilty of other
misdemeanours at Dacca, &c. Burdett I am sure has."
In a letter[253] from Lord Clive to the Directors, he has the following
observations upon this subject:—"Upon my arrival, I am sorry to say, I
found your affairs in a condition so nearly desperate, as would have
alarmed any set of men whose sense of honour and duty to their employers
had not been estranged by the too eager pursuit of their own immediate
advantages. The sudden, and, among many, the unwarrantable acquisition
of riches, had introduced luxury in every shape, and in its most
pernicious excess. These two enormous evils went hand in hand together
through the whole presidency, infecting almost every member of each
department. Every inferior seemed to have grasped at wealth, that he
might be enabled to assume that spirit of profusion which was now the
only distinction between him and his superior. Thus all distinction
ceased; and every rank became, in a manner, upon an equality. Nor was
this the end of the mischief; for a contest of such a nature among our
servants necessarily destroyed all proportion between their wants and
the honest means of satisfying them. In a country where money is plenty,
where fear is the principle of government, and where your arms are ever
victorious, it is no wonder that the lust of riches should readily
embrace the proffered means of its gratification, or that the
instruments of your power should avail themselves of their authority,
and proceed even to extortion, in those cases where simple corruption
could not keep pace with their rapacity. Examples of this sort, set by
superiors, could not fail of being followed, in a proportionable degree,
by inferiors. The evil was contagious, and spread among the civil and
military, down to the writer, the ensign, and the free merchant."
In the answer from the Court of Directors to this letter[254] from
Clive, they observe; "We have the strongest sense of the deplorable
state to which our affairs were on the point of being reduced, from the
corruption and rapacity of our servants, and the universal depravity of
manners throughout the settlements. The general relaxation of all
discipline and obedience, both military and civil, was hastily tending
to a dissolution of all government. Our letter to the Select Committee
expresses our sentiments of what has been obtained by way of donation;
and to that we must add, that we think the vast fortunes acquired in the
inland trade have been obtained by a scene of the most tyrannic and
oppressive conduct that ever was known in any age or country."
In the letter of the same date as that of Lord Clive[255], from the
Select Committee of Calcutta above referred to, they express themselves
bound to lay open to the view of the Directors a series of transactions
too notoriously known to be suppressed, and too deeply affecting their
interest, the national character, and the existence of the Company in
Bengal, to escape unnoticed and uncensured. "Transactions," they add,
"which seem to demonstrate that every spring of this government was
smeared with corruption, that principles of rapacity and oppression
universally prevailed, and that every spark of sentiment and public
spirit was lost and extinguished in the unbounded lust of unmerited
wealth."
Lord Clive, in a letter to Mr. Sykes of the 20th August, informs him of
the happy conclusion of his mission to Benares, and of his having
obtained from the King the grant of the dewannee, or deed, for the
administration of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; an arrangement to which he
very justly attaches the greatest value, and which may be viewed as
having crowned his efforts as a hero and a statesman, in fixing firm the
foundation of the British empire in India.[256] It is difficult, at the
present day, to appreciate that wisdom which appeared to attach a value
to the form, almost beyond the substance, of power. It is impossible to
satisfy those who judge such questions by philosophic rules, or others
who apply a European standard to Indian policy, of the weight of the
reasons which led Clive to give the consequence he did to an act, that
may appear to them as being more likely to augment, than to lessen, the
numerous obstacles which already opposed the good government of our
Eastern territories. It is not easy to convince such persons of the
degree in which he was enabled, by this grant, to reconcile to the rule
of strangers the various communities which formed the vast population of
India; nor can we compute the amount of strength which it took away from
princes, who had long been enemies to those Europeans whom they deemed
invaders and usurpers, but who were, from the moment the grant was made,
in the eyes of a great proportion of their subjects, if not in their
own, sanctioned in the exercise of the power they had attained, by the
authority of one who, however fallen, was still considered the
legitimate source of all rank and authority over that empire of which he
was hardly more than the nominal head.
Philosophers may smile at such impressions, may despise those who act on
such grounds; but as the bulk of human beings, in every country, are
swayed by impressions and prejudices more than by reason, wise and great
statesmen will continue to establish authority, and preserve peace, by
adapting their measures to the habits and feeling of the community,
instead of acting on theories which, taken in the abstract, have an
appearance of wisdom, but reduced to practice, by running counter to the
character and condition of the great mass of men, for whose benefit they
are intended, produce bitter fruits from fair but deceitful blossoms.
Previous to the conclusion of the negotiations at Patna, Mr.
Verelst[257], acting under the instructions of Lord Clive, had succeeded
in obtaining the acquiescence of the Nabob of Moorshedabad and his
ministers, to an engagement, by which it is stipulated, that 50 lacs of
rupees should be assigned for his support[258], and that of his family,
while the remaining revenue was allotted to the payment of restitutions,
expenses of the army, and allowance to the King.
Lord Clive, in a letter which announced to the Court of Directors his
having made peace, and obtained rights and privileges that gave them
resources which, well managed, were more than competent to maintain the
East India Company in that political power which a rapid succession of
events had forced upon them, entered fully upon the subject of the
future administration of their affairs, and, above all, the necessity of
a complete reform in their civil and military establishments, which, in
Bengal, he describes to be in the worst possible state, owing to many
causes, but to none more than the rise of youth to wealth and high
station, before they had either prudence or judgment; a rise inevitably
succeeded by their falling into a state of indolence and luxury, that
led to the increase of the evils it was his anxious object, and that of
the Select Committee, to remedy.
The measures he adopted to enforce obedience to the orders of the
Directors, regarding certain classes of their servants discontinuing
trade, were accompanied by a distribution among the seniors, of a
proportion of the profits of the salt monopoly, in shares accordant with
their rank. These shares, though large, were considered as nothing by
men who were enjoying the enormous profits that resulted from the
privileges which their influence and authority gave them as merchants.
This arrangement, consequently, caused great discontent among those
whose interests it affected; which was increased by his removal of civil
servants from many minor stations in the provinces, and ordering all
free merchants, except those that were specifically licensed, to return
to the presidency. An effectual check was also put, at this period, to
that system of violence with which the native gomastahs, or agents of
civil servants and free merchants, continued to enforce the passing
their goods, not only without paying duties, but without dustucks or
passes[259], which were granted when it was deemed expedient or proper,
on application. There is, in Clive's letter books, much correspondence
upon this subject; the whole tenor of which proves, that the effort made
by the committee to stop the inland trade, was one of the principal
causes of that combination of civil servants, which rapidly increased in
number and violence, when it was known, that Clive had requested that
four of the senior and best qualified civil servants of Madras should be
immediately sent to Bengal, in order to strengthen his administration of
the latter presidency.
The conduct of Mr. Leycester, one of the council, who placed himself at
the head of the discontented, forced the Select Committee to suspend
him. Mr. Gray and Mr. Burdett, two other leaders, went home; and severe
measures were taken with several juniors, who joined with their
superiors in order to arrest reforms, which threatened to destroy those
prospects of early and great wealth in which they so fondly indulged.
Clive heard, soon after his arrival, of Mr. Dudley being
deputy-chairman; and we find a long private letter[260], written in
1765, to that gentleman. In this, after commenting with his usual
freedom on the characters of persons connected with the conduct of
Indian affairs, both at home and abroad, he particularly alludes to Mr.
Sumner, his destined successor, who, however respectable, he was led to
believe, from what he has seen and heard, would not be found to possess
that energy and decision which were indispensable to carry into full
effect the system which he had introduced.
He concludes this letter with some strong opinions, as to the measures
that were necessary to insure the future welfare of Bengal:—
"If the Directors will empower me alone, or me in conjunction
with the present committee, to regulate matters, I can be
responsible for the consequences after my departure; if not, I much
fear, things will fall into the old channel, and to the advantages
arising from salt will be added every other that can be obtained.
"Remember the oath and penalty bond mentioned in my public letter.
"If you could, by increasing the Governor's salary, or ordering his
proportion of salt to be greater, insert in the oath, that the
Governor should not be allowed the liberty of private trade, but
attend only to the affairs of the Company, leaving trade to the
second, &c., I think the plan of government would be much more
perfect, as it would be less liable to abuses from the head.
"With regard to the magnitude of our possessions, be not staggered.
Assure yourself that the Company must either be what they are, or
be annihilated. Hitherto, at least, one can see no alternative;
for, in a moderate state, though the power might still be
preserved, corruption and frequent revolutions, must in the end
overset us. Never was there a time when affairs wore so strong an
appearance of prosperity and stability as the present.
"Irruptions of the Mahrattas may now and then interrupt our trade,
and impede the collection of our revenues; but I am persuaded that
nothing can prove fatal but a renewal of licentiousness among your
servants here, or intestine divisions among yourselves at home.
"I am sorry I cannot send the Directors, by this conveyance, a list
of the revenues; but I am as much convinced as that I now exist,
that when the revenues are all perfectly regulated, the Company
will receive, clear of civil and military expenses, and without
oppressing or overloading the inhabitants, a net income of
2,000,000_l._ sterling per annum.
"One arduous undertaking still remains behind; I mean, a thorough
examination into all the civil and military offices. The difficulty
is in the choice of men for a committee. We cannot easily find
servants here endued with such strict principles of honour as to
make them think it a duty they owe the Company to enter heartily
into the scrutiny, and recommend such wholesome regulations as may
in future prevent abuses.
"It is impossible for the Select Committee to go through the whole
themselves, nor can they expect to see a thorough reformation take
place, unless they are assisted with the zeal and assiduity of
others. If the gentlemen of Madras whom I have recommended were
here, I could be certain of having my plan soon completed. The
Directors will, I am sure, be surprised when they see what a total
inattention (to call it by no worse a name) there has been in the
gentlemen of council, with regard to their employment, and what
gross frauds have been committed by the natives acting under them.
"Still more will they be surprised, when they see the late military
expenses, compared with the present; for there is now a system of
economy, consistent with the true interest of the Company, and yet
the allowances are not reduced below what they ought to be.