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BARON ROBERT CLIVE CLIVE (1725-1774)
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See also:BARON See also:ROBERT See also:CLIVE CLIVE (1725-1774)
, the statesman and See also:general who founded the See also:empire of See also:British See also:India, was See also:born on the 29th of See also:September 1725 at Styche, the See also:family See also:estate, in the See also:parish of Moreton Say, See also:Market See also:Drayton, See also:Shropshire
.
We learn from himself, in his second speech in the See also:House of See also:Commons in 1773, that as the estate yielded only £500 a See also:year, his See also:father followed the profession of the See also:law also
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The Clives, or Clyves, were one of the See also:oldest families in the See also:county of Shropshire, having held the See also:manor of that name in the reign of See also: From his earliest years, however, his ambition was to See also:lead his See also:fellows; but he never sacrificed See also:honour, as the word was then understood, even to the fear of See also:death . At eighteen he was sent out to See also:Madras as a " See also:factor " or " writer " in the See also:civil service of the See also:East India See also:Company . The detention of the See also:ship in See also:Brazil for nine months enabled him to acquire the Portuguese See also:language, which, at a time when few or none of the Company's servants learned the vernaculars of India, he often found of use . For the first two years of his See also:residence he was miserable . He See also:felt keenly the separatiorfrom See also:home; he was always breaking through the restraints Imposed on young " writers "; and he was rarely out of trouble with his fellows, with one of whom he fought a See also:duel . Thus See also:early, too, the effect of the See also:climate on his See also:health began to show itself in those fits of depression during one of which he afterwards prematurely ended his life . The See also:story is told of him by his companions, though he himself never spoke of it, that he twice snapped a See also:pistol at his See also:head in vain . His one solace was found in the See also:governor's library, where he sought to make up for past carelessness by a systematic course of study . He was just of See also:age, when in 1746 Madras was forced to capitulate to Labourdonnais during the See also:War of the See also:Austrian See also:Succession . The See also:breach of that See also:capitulation by See also:Dupleix, then at the head of the See also:French settlements in India, led Clive, with others, to See also:escape from the See also:town to the subordinate Fort St See also:David, some 20 M. to the See also:south . There, disgusted with the See also:state of affairs and the purely com-See also:menial duties of an East See also:Indian civilian, as they then were, Clive obtained an See also:ensign's See also:commission . At this time India was ready to become the See also:prize of the first conqueror who to the dash of the soldier added the skill of the See also:administrator . For the See also:forty years since the death of the See also:emperor See also:Aurangzeb, the See also:power of the See also:Great See also:Mogul had gradually fallen into the hands of his provincial viceroys or subadhars . The three greatest of these were the See also:nawab of the See also:Deccan, or south and central India, who ruled from See also:Hyderabad, the nawab of See also:Bengal, whose See also:capital was See also:Murshidabad, and the nawab or See also:wazir of Oudh . The prize See also:lay between Dupleix, who had the See also:genius of an administrator, or rather intriguer, but was no soldier, and Clive, the first of a See also:century's brilliant succession of those " soldier-politicals," as they are called in the East, to whom Great See also:Britain owes the See also:conquest and consolidation of its greatest dependency . Clive successively established British ascendancy against French influence in the three great provinces under these nawabs . But his merit lies especially in the ability and foresight with which he secured for his See also:country, and for the See also:good of the natives, the richest of the three, Bengal . First, as to Madras and the Deccan, Clive had hardly been able to commend himself to See also:Major Stringer See also:Lawrence,the See also:commander of the British troops, by his courage and skill in several small engagements, when the See also:peace of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) forced him to return to his civil duties for a short time . An attack of the malady which so severely affected his See also:spirits led him to visit Bengal, where he was soon to distinguish himself . On his return he found a contest going on between two sets of See also:rival claimants for the position of See also:viceroy of the Deccan, and for that of nawab of the Carnatic, the greatest of the subordinate states under the Deccan . Dupleix, who took the See also:part of the pretenders to power in both places, was carrying all before him . The British had been weakened by the withdrawal of a large force under See also:Admiral See also:Boscawen, and by the return home, on leave, of Major Lawrence . But that officer had appointed Clive See also:commissary for the See also:supply of the troops with provisions, with the See also:rank of See also:captain . More than one disaster had taken See also:place on a small See also:scale, when Clive See also:drew up a See also:plan for dividing the enemy's forces, and offered to carry it out himself .
The pretender, See also:Chanda See also:Sahib, had been made nawab of the Carnatic with Dupleix's assistance, while the British had taken up the cause of the more legitimate successor, Mahommed See also:Ali
.
Chanda Sahib had See also:left See also:Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, to reduce See also:Trichinopoly, then held by a weak English See also:battalion
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Clive offered to attack Arcot in See also:order to force Chanda Sahib to raise the See also:siege of Trichinopoly
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But Madras and Fort St David could supply him with only zoo Europeans and 300 sepoys
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Of the eight See also:officers who led them, four were civilians like Clive himself, and six had never been in See also:action
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His force had but three See also: It now consisted of 12o Europeans and 20o sepoys . Only four officers were left, the stock of provisions was scanty, and the commander who had to conduct the See also:defence under circumstances so discouraging was a young See also:man of five and twenty, who had been bred as a See also:book-keeper . During fifty days the siege went on, and the young captain maintained the defence with a firmness, vigilance and ability which would have done honour to the oldest See also:marshal in See also:Europe . The breach, however, increased See also:day by day . Under such circumstances, any troops so scantily provided with officers might have been expected to show signs of insubordination; and the danger was peculiarlygreat in a force composed of men differing widely from each other in extraction, See also:colour, language, See also:manners and See also:religion . But the devotion of the little See also:band to its See also:chief surpassed anything that is related of the Tenth See also:Legion of See also:Caesar, or the Old Guard of See also:Napoleon . The sepoys came to Clive, not to complain of their scanty fare, but to propose that all the See also:grain should be given to the Europeans, who required more nourishment than the natives of See also:Asia . The thin gruel, they said, which was strained away from the See also:rice would suffice for themselves . See also:History contains no more touching instance of military fidelity, or of the influence of a commanding mind . An See also:attempt made by the governor of Madras to relieve the place had failed; but there was See also:hope from another See also:quarter . A See also:body of 3000 See also:Mahrattas, See also:half soldiers, half robbers, under the command of a chief named Murari See also:Rao had been hired to assist Mahommed Ali; but thinking the French power irresistible, and the See also:triumph of Chanda Sahib certain, they had hitherto remained inactive on the frontiers of the Carnatic . The fame of the defence of Arcot roused them from their torpor; Murari Rao declared that he had never before believed that Englishmen could fight, but that he would willingly help them since he saw that they had spirit to help themselves . Raja Sahib learned that the Mahrattas were in See also:motion, and it was necessary for him to be expeditious . He first tried negotiations—he offered large bribes to Clive, which were rejected with scorn; he vowed that if his proposals were not accepted, he would instantly storm the fort, and put every man in it to the See also:sword . Clive told him, in reply, with characteristic haughtiness, that his father was a usurper, that his army was a See also:rabble, and that he would do well to think twice before he sent such poltroons into a breach defended by English soldiers . Raja Sahib determined to storm the fort . The day was well suited to a bold military enter-prise . It was the great See also:Mahommedan festival, the Muharram, which is sacred to the memory of Husain, the son of Ali . Clive had received See also:secret intelligence of the See also:design, had made his arrangements, and, exhausted by fatigue, had thrown himself on his See also:bed . He was awakened by the alarm, and was instantly at his See also:post . The enemy advanced, See also:driving before them elephants whose foreheads were armed with See also:iron plates . It was expected that the See also:gates would yield to the See also:shock of these living battering-rams . But the huge beasts no sooner felt the English See also:musket balls than they turned See also:round and rushed furiously away, trampling on the multitude which had urged them forward . A raft was launched on the See also:water which filled one part of the ditch . Clive perceiving that his gunners at that post did not understand their business, took the management of a piece of See also:artillery himself, and cleared the raft in a few minutes . Where the See also:moat was dry, the assailants mounted with great boldness; but they were received with a See also:fire so heavy and so well directed, that it soon quelled the courage even of fanaticism and of See also:intoxication . The See also:rear ranks of the English kept the front ranks supplied with a See also:constant succession of loaded muskets, and very shot told on the living See also:mass below . The struggle lasted about an See also:hour; 400 of the assailants See also:fell; the garrison lost only five or six men . The besieged passed an anxious See also:night, looking for a renewal of the attack . But when day See also:broke, the enemy were no more to be seen . They had retired, leaving to the English several guns and a large quantity of See also:ammunition." In India, we might say in all history, there is no parallel to this exploit of 1751 till we come to the siege of See also:Lucknow in 1857 . Clive, now reinforced, followed up his See also:advantage, and Major Lawrence returned in time to carry the war to a successful issue . In 1954 the first of the Carnatic See also:treaties was made provisionally, between T . Saunders, the Company's See also:resident at Madras, and M . Godeheu, the French commander, in which the English protege, Mahommed All, was virtually recognized as nawab, and both nations agreed to equalize their possessions . When war again broke out in 1756, and the French, during Clive's See also:absence in Bengal, obtained successes in the See also:northern districts, his efforts helped to drive them from their settlements .
The Treaty of See also:Paris in 1763 formally confirmed Mahommed Ali in the position which Clive had won for him
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Two years after, the Madras See also:work of Clive was completed by a See also:firman from the emperor of See also:Delhi, recognizing the British possessions in See also:southern India
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The siege of Arcot at once gave Clive a See also:European reputation
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See also:Pitt pronounced the youth of twenty-seven who had done such deeds a " See also:heaven-born general," thus endorsing the generous appreciation of his early commander, Major Lawrence
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When the See also:court of See also:directors voted him a sword See also:worth £700, he refused to receive it unless Lawrence was similarly honoured
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He left Madras for home, after ten years' absence, early in 1953, but not before marrying See also:Miss See also:Margaret See also:Maskelyne, the sister of a friend, and of one who was afterwards well known as astronomer royal
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All his See also:correspondence proves him to have been a good See also:husband and father, at a time when society was far from pure, and See also:scandal made havoc of the highest reputations
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In after days, when Clive's uprightness and stern reform of the Company'scivil and military services made him many enemies, a See also:biography of him appeared under the assumed name of See also: He took Bombay on his way, and there commanded the See also:land force which captured Gheria, the stronghold of the Mahratta pirate, Angria . In the See also:distribution of prize See also:money which followed this expedition he showed no little self-denial . He took his seat as governor of Fort St David on the day on which the nawab of Bengal captured See also:Calcutta, and thither the Madras government at once sent him, with admiral See also:Watson . He entered on the second See also:period of his career . Since, in See also:August 169o, See also:Job See also:Charnock had landed at the See also:village of Sutanati with a guard of one officer and 30 men, the See also:infant capital of Calcutta had become a See also:rich centre of See also:trade . The successive nawabs or viceroys of Bengal had been friendly to it, till, in 1756, Suraj-ud-Dowlah succeeded his See also:uncle at Murshidabad . His predecessor's See also:financial See also:minister had fled to Calcutta to escape the See also:extortion of the new nawab, and the English governor refused to deliver up the refugee . Enraged at this, Suraj-ud-Dowlah captured the old fort of Calcutta on the 20th of See also:June and plundered it of more than two millions See also:sterling . Many of the English fled to See also:ships and dropped down the See also:river . The 146 who remained were forced into " the See also:Black Hole " in the stifling See also:heat of the sultriest period of the year . Only 23 came out alive . The See also:fleet was as strong, for those days, as the land force was weak .
Disembarking his troops some See also:miles below the city, Clive marched through the jungles, where he lost his way owing to the treachery of his guides, but soon invested Fort See also: 
Associating with himself Admiral Watson, Governor See also:Drake and Mr See also:Watts, Clive made a treaty in which it was agreed to give the See also:office of viceroy of Bengal, See also:Behar and See also:Orissa to Jafar, who -was to pay a million sterling to the Company for its losses in Calcutta and the cost of its troops, half a million to the British inhabitants of Calcutta, £200;000 to the native inhabitants, and £70,000 to its Armenian merchants . Up to this point all is clear . Suraj-ud-Dowlah was hopeless as a ruler . His relations alike to his See also:master, the merely titular emperor of Delhi, and to the people left the See also:province open to the strongest . After "the Black Hole," the battle of Calcutta, and the treachery at Chandernagore in spite of the treaty which followed that battle, the East India Company could treat the nawab only as an enemy . Clive, it is true, might have disregarded all native intrigue, marched on Murshidabad, and at once held the See also:delta of the See also:Ganges in the Company's name . But the time was not ripe for this, and the consequences, with so small a force, might have been fatal . The See also:idea of acting directly as rulers, or See also:save under native charters and names, was not See also:developed by events for half a century . The See also:political morality of the time in Europe, as well as the See also:comparative weakness of the Company in India, led Clive not only to meet the dishonesty of his native See also:associate by equal dishonesty, but to justify his conduct by the See also:declaration, years after, in parliament, that he would do the same again . It became necessary to employ the richest See also:Bengali trader, See also:Omichund, as an See also:agent between Jafar Ali and the British officials . Master of the secret of the confederacy against Surajud-Dowlah, the Bengali threatened to betray it unless he was guaranteed, in the treaty itself, £300,000 . To dupe the villain, who was really paid by both sides, a second, or fictitious treaty, was shown him with a clause to this effect .
This Admiral Watson refused to sign; " but," Clive deponed to the House of Commons, " to the best of his remembrance, he gave the See also:gentleman who carried it leave to sign his name upon it; his lordship never made any secret of it; he thinks it warrantable in such a See also:case, and would do it again a See also:hundred times; he had no interested See also:motive in doing it, and did it with a design of disappointing the expectations of a rapacious man." Such is Clive's own defence of the one See also:act which, in a long career of abounding temptations, was of questionable honesty
.
The whole hot See also:season of 1757 was spent in these negotiations, till the See also:middle of June, when Clive began his See also: |