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CHAPTER X.

CLIVE'S LAST VISIT TO BENGAL, RETURN HOME, AND DEATH.

To return to Bengal.

Clive found it no easy task to protect his new Soobadar, Meer Jaffier, from the enemies who watched his career with jealousy and hatred. But as all parties, from the Caramnasa River down to the sea, were willing to abide by the decision of the British Captain, rather than provoke his enmity, the internal affairs of Bengal were in a comparatively settled state. To the northward a storm was brewing; but before the danger was near, Clive found time (June 1757) to return to Calcutta. He was making arrangements for carrying help to Madras, when a curious missive arrived from the Court of Directors to the Bengal Government.

A council of ten servants of the Company, with a 'rotatory head'-this was to be the remedy for all abuses, past, present, and future! The four senior members of the decemvirate were alternately to fill the office of president, and to hold the same for three months. Clive's name was not even mentioned. This paper scheme, which no doubt looked very well in London, was received with due scorn in Calcutta. Men, whose lives had for months depended on the vigour and the wisdom of one strong arm and one cool head, would not accept a constitution, which could hardly, even by accident, work

effectively. Even the presidents elect scouted the idea of this rotation' government; and they, as well as the other members of the proposed council-to their honour be it said-summoned Clive to the presidential chair. Soon after came despatches from Leadenhall Street, written after the news of the Battle of Plassey had been received. Clive was made Governor of Bengal, and the rotation government forgotten.

The mission of Forde to attack the French in the Northern Circars has already been mentioned. This was one of Clive's most important acts on assuming the direction of affairs under his new commission. We may readily question whether it would not have been better to send this force direct to the Coromandel coast; but Clive probably was afraid of letting his soldiers proceed to Madras, where he could no longer have had authority over them, or any hope of seeing them back again. He accordingly directed Forde to proceed to the Circars, and to receive no orders except from Calcutta. The success of this expedition has already been noticed.

Scrafton was now leaving Moorshidabad, and it became necessary to choose a successor to fill the office of resident (or agent on behalf of the British Government) at the court of Meer Jaffier. Clive selected for the post Warren Hastings, a youth then unknown to fame, but destined hereafter to occupy a position of the highest mark.

And now appeared upon the scene the Shah-zadeh, or King's son, a title generally appropriated by sons of the Imperial Mogul. This young man, flying from Delhi, owing to disputes with his father's vizier, gathered a band of adventurers around him, and marched upon Bengal to attack Meer Jaffier. The feeble Soobadar called loudly upon Clive; who put his little army into

motion, and marched at its head to Moorshidabad. The approach of Clive acted like a charm. Rebellious deputies, who thought to join the Shah-zadeh, settled down at once into zealous and faithful subjects; and the prince himself, rather than measure his strength with the English warrior, beat a rapid retreat. Clive received the thanks of the Emperor for this service, and a more substantial acknowledgment from the Soobadar. This potentate, observing that Clive had received honorary titles from Delhi, but nothing whereby to support those titles, determined to grant a 'jaghire' (or estate) of some thirty thousand pounds per annum to the English Governor of Bengal. It would have been a happy thing for Clive if, content with the fortune he had already received from Meer Jaffier, he had declined the proffered grant. But moderation was not one of his virtues; and he accepted the gift in the form of an assignment of the quit-rent, or government share of the lands farmed by the Company round or near Calcutta.

When Meer Jaffier welcomed Clive on his return from Patna, he presented the title-deeds in due form, and expressed his gratitude to the man who had a second time saved him from ruin.

From a State of the European Force in Bengal, 6th February, 1759,' sent to Colonel Lawrence at Madras, we learn that the officers and men numbered in all, including artillery-men, drummers, &c., five hundred and twenty-two-whereof one hundred and forty were recruits. With this handful of English troops did Clive maintain in these troublous times the rich territories of Bengal, which would otherwise have been overrun by Mahrattas, the Shah-zadeh, the Nabob of Oude, and other northern adventurers.

But Clive at this moment had not only to keep at

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bay the natives of Upper India and the Mahrattas. There was a secret foe nearer home. The Dutch, whose chief settlement in Bengal was at Chinsurah, a few miles up the stream above Calcutta, had observed the weakness of the English force since Forde's departure for the Circars, and determined to strike a blow, which would make their countrymen the lords paramount in Bengal. Meer Jaffier had been on bad terms with the local authorities at Chinsurah, until he found that they had a powerful force from Batavia coming up the river to Calcutta. Either from fear, or from the innate love of intrigue, he then entered into negotiations with them. Clive found himself called upon to decide in a moment what was to be done. He must stop the progress of the Dutch reinforcements, who outnumbered him both in ships and men, or must consent to see his power pass into the hands of his crafty rivals. Although the force which Forde had taken away was still on the Madras side, Forde himself had returned to Calcutta a few days before the Dutch fleet arrived. Clive put him in command of the land forces, and ordered the Commodore of the English fleet to attack the Dutch vessels as they came up the river. A severe fight, in which the Dutch were seven to three, and four of them 'capital ships,' ended in the defeat of the Hollanders.

By land the English were equally successful. Colonel Forde wrote to Clive, telling him, that if he had the Order of Council, he could attack the Dutch with a fair prospect of destroying them.' Clive got this note whilst playing a rubber at whist. He wrote hastily in pencil: Dear Forde, fight them immediately. I will send you the Order of Council to-morrow.' Forde accordingly set upon the Dutch, and gained a complete victory.

Clive felt all the difficulty of this Dutch question; and in deciding to stop the reinforcements on their way up the river, remarked, that a public man may occasionally be called upon to act with a halter round his neck.'

No doubt he acted with discretion as well as vigour. A majority of the Dutch Council had been intriguing with Meer Jaffier, overruling the opinion of the respectable governor, M. Bisdom, and bent upon seizing the English settlements in Bengal. Clive had to choose between attacking the colonists of a nation with whom war had not been declared, or becoming their dupe and victim. He chose the bolder course, and deserves all the credit which his success obtained for him.

The Dutch being thus thoroughly humbled, and close limits placed on their future power, Clive prepared to embark for England. The Soobadar, Hastings, Holwell, and all the best servants of the Company, were aghast at his determination.

But Clive had made up his mind, and no remonstrances could stop him. The desire to enjoy his fame and fortune at home was natural enough; and there was much to be done in England before Clive's Indian schemes could be thoroughly carried out.

He had already written to the Prime Minister, William Pitt (afterwards the great Lord Chatham), acknowledging that it was due to Pitt's vigour that the English were able to hold their ground in India against the French at this crisis. In that remarkable letter he pointed out that an English force in Bengal of two thousand men, would enable the Company to take the sovereignty upon themselves,' if the native rulers' dared to be troublesome.' The natives, he said, would rejoice to exchange a despotic for a mild government; and the