Part 39 (1/2)
Surely if ever Clive gains his deserved memorial, these words of his should find some place upon it in palliation of the offence which tarnished his reputation. An offence which, when all is said and done, has something of the nature of an unreasoning, impish, boyish trick about it which is reminiscent of other incidents in Clive's career, notably the firing of Aurungzebe's old gun at Arcot, and the _detour_ to smash up the victory-pillar of Dupleix.
So Clive went home, and, arriving at an opportune moment of national depression after a series of rebuffs abroad, was honoured as something of which England could be proud. He was given an Irish barony. ”I could have bought an English one (which is usual), but that I was above,” he writes. And yet, apparently, he was not above holding his tongue on many matters of national importance, because he was afraid of irritating the Court of Directors who had the payment of his _jaghir_ money. But Clive was ambitious, extraordinarily ambitious, at this time of his career.
”We must be nabobs ourselves,” is a phrase which occurs in one of his letters; also this: ”My future power, my future grandeur, all depend upon the receipt of the _jaghir_ money.”
What scheme lay hidden in his brain? One thing is certain. He scrupled at little which would help him to its realisation. He failed, however, in getting a majority in the Council of Directors, though to do so he employed the discreditable tactics of his adversaries by manufacturing votes. In his defence it must be remembered that he was fighting single-handed against a corrupt monopoly, and that throughout the whole quarrel he never flinched from his purpose.
He took the question of his _jaghir_, which the Company refused to pay, into Chancery, but ere the case was investigated, news of so serious a nature was received from India that a sudden and imperious call for Clive to return arose on all sides. He had made our dominion in the East. Only he could save it from destruction.
The story of what had happened during his four years' absence may be briefly epitomised.
Alamgir II., emperor at Delhi, had been murdered by his minister Ghazi-ud-din from fear of his intriguing with Ahmed-Shah, Durrani, who was once more marching on the Punjab. Backed by his Mahrattas, the minister thought himself secure; in this he was mistaken. True, the Mahrattas were in the zenith of their power, their artillery surpa.s.sed that of the Moghuls, the discipline of their army was better than it had ever been before, but they had in consequence lost something of their lightness, their alertness.
And they were too numerous. When they finally found themselves entrenched on the old historic battle-plain of Paniput awaiting Ahmed-Shah's advance, they numbered no less than three hundred thousand. Excellent foragers though they were, supplies soon ran short. On the other hand, Ahmed-Shah, with the confederacy of Mahomed princes which had joined forces with him, mustered but a third of that number. He saw his advantage, and waited, replying to his Indian allies' importunities to attack: ”This is a matter of war; leave it to me.” Night after night his small red tent was pitched in front of his entrenchments, whence he watched his enemy. ”Do you sleep,” he would say contemptuously to the Indian chiefs; ”I will see no harm befalls you.”
So the day came at last when the Mahrattas were forced by hunger to attack. They fought well; but by eventide two hundred thousand of them lay dead in heaps on the Paniput plain. Nearly all the great chiefs were slain or wounded, and Bala-ji, the Peishwa, himself died on the way back to Poona, it is said from a broken heart. Ahmed-Shah, Durrani, returned to Kandahar and did not again enter India.
In consequence of his father's murder the prince-royal, in natural succession, became the Great Moghul. As such it became impossible to further ignore his claims. But he could be, and was, again beaten, together with his ally the Nawab of Oude. Matters at Murs.h.i.+dabad, however, deprived of Clive's guidance, had gone from bad to worse. Mr Vansittart, Clive's successor in the Governors.h.i.+p, seems to have been weak, and in addition could count on no support in his council save that of Warren Hastings. The end being that Mir-Jaffar was virtually deposed for misgovernment, and his son-in-law Mir-Ka.s.sim placed on the throne. It was not a clean business, and Mir-Jaffar, full of resentment, retired to live in Calcutta on a pension.
Things, however, did not improve under Mir-Ka.s.sim, though the Prince-Royal-Emperor, who was still hovering on the frontiers, was interviewed by Mr Carnac (doubtless bearing a satisfactory present), and an arrangement entered into by which, in consideration of being confirmed in the Nawabs.h.i.+p, Mir Ka.s.sim should pay an annual tribute of 240,000. It is easy to be generous with other folks' money!
Thus secured from invasion, Mir-Ka.s.sim began to try and fill his treasuries, and instantly complained, as Mir-Jaffar had complained, of the injury done to him and his subjects by the rule which permitted private trade to the servants of the Company, who, not satisfied with using their public position to a.s.sist them, claimed the right to be free of all duties, thus ousting the native trader from all markets.
It was manifest, gross injustice; but here again Mr Vansittart and Warren Hastings were alone in condemning it.
Afraid to strike at the root of the evil, while continuing the absolutely indefensible right to private trade, they agreed with the Nawab that the usual duty should be paid.
This raised a storm in Calcutta, where a full meeting of Council decided by ten to two that the agreement should not stand.
The Nawab retaliated in kind. Since the Council persisted in their claim, he would extend its bearings to his own subjects. All could now trade free, and let the devil take the hindmost!
It was a fair retort. They tried to intimidate him, but he had the bit between his teeth. Diplomacy had had its day; it was now war to the knife!
Within a month or two the ma.s.sacre at Patna took place, in which two hundred Englishmen lost their lives in cold blood; but not before the Presidency troops had entered Murs.h.i.+dabad, deposed Mir-Ka.s.sim, who fled, and reinstated Mir-Jaffar.
It was a tissue of mistakes from beginning to end, which Major Munro's subsequent victory at Buxar over the combined forces of the Prince-Royal-Emperor (who had not yet managed to recover his capital Delhi), the Wazir of Oude, and Mir-Ka.s.sim did little to rectify. For Mir-Jaffar died shortly after of old age, and the Council was left without a Nawab to squeeze! After much discussion, however, they decided on putting up Nujam-ad-daula, an illegitimate son of Mir-Jaffar's.
Such was the state of affairs when Clive, to whom, in view of the painful state of disorder in Bengal, absolute power had been given, arrived in Calcutta on his second period of Governors.h.i.+p in the beginning of May 1765.
His first act was to decline discussion.
”I was determined,” he writes, ”to do my duty to the public, though 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.”
He began the work at once, and, undeterred by opposition, did not rest till he had placed the Indian Civil Service on the upward path to its present honoured and honourable position. Perquisites and presents were swept away; unbia.s.sed authority given in exchange.
The only real political work of the next two years was his treatment of, and treaty with, the Prince-Royal-Emperor, Shah-alam, who was more than ever a puppet king after the victory at Buxar, when he had thrown himself on the protection of the English. So anxious, indeed, was he to secure this, that before the answer to his pet.i.tion was received from Calcutta, he encamped every night as close to the British army as he could for safety!
The treaty into which he then entered contained an important stipulation that the Company should a.s.sist him to recover the territories usurped by his late ally Sujah-daula, Wazir of Oude.