CLIVE, ROBERT, Baron Clive of Plassey 74). An English general, whose achievements laid the foundations of the British Indian Em pire. His father, a lawyer and small land-owner, came of an ancient Shropshire family, whose mano•-seat, Styehe, near Market Drayton, dates from the reign of Henry II. There Clive was born September 29, 1725, the eldest of thirteen children. He spent several years with an uncle at Hope Hall, near Manchester, and at various schools showed more aptitude for pugilism, pluck, and mischievousness than for study, although one of his masters predicted his future celebrity. At eighteen years of age he shipped to Madras as a writer to the East India Company. The ship. driven out of its course to Brazil, was detained there for 111E months, Clive utilized by learning Portuguese, a language of service to him during his Indian administration. After his arrival in Madras the climate and monotonous drudgery of his duties made him unsuccessfully attempt suicide. But with the outbreak of the great struggle between the French and English in India his opportunity came. He applied for and obtained an ensign's commission, and dis tinguished himself in Boscawen's unsuccessful siege of Pondicherry in 1748. His dauntless courage, previously exhibited in a duel which forms the idealized subject of Browning's poem "Clive," now had scope for development. Eng lish influence was almost extinct in India, through the prestige of the French and their allies. In 1751, with 500 mixed English and Sepoy troops. Clive marched from Madras and captured Arcot, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, gar ' risoned by 1500 of Chunda Sahib's best troops. The daring displayed in the capture of Arcot was equaled by the intrepidity and fortitude exhibit ed in its successful defense by Clive and his little hand, reduced to 200 men, against a besieging army of 7000 natives and French, and impreed the natives with the strength and prowess of Britain. The succeeding campaign, in which successes and personal escapes were of a most dra matic character, included the victories of Arni and Kaveripak, and the capture of Kovilam and Chingalpat. Henceforward Clive's name was a local tower of strength ; the natives sur named him `Sahat Jung.' or 'the Daring in War'; and Pitt described him as "the youth of twenty-seven years" who had done the deeds of a "heaven-horn general." In 1753, with his bride. Margaret Maskelyne. sister of the astrono mer. he visited England. and received a diamond hilted sword and the warm thanks of the India Company. Possessed of a moderate fortune, oh tailed from prise-money, lie expended part in tedeeming the paternal estate, and relieving his father from pecuniary ornbarrassment. The rest sown disappeared in an unsuccessful Parliamen tary •ontc34 and the maintenance of a costly establishment. Ile returned to India in 1735. and in 1756 was called to avenge the Black Hole atrocity perpetrated by Siraj-inl-Doula. .Nawab of Bengal. Clive advanced against the Nawab, and in January, 1757, the English were again in possession of Calcutta. A peace was arranged; hut Clive, bent upon a brilliant exhibition of his powers, and eager for the riches of Bengal. soon
returned to the struggle. To insure his success, he entered into a plot for the elevation to the throne of Bengal of Siraj-ml-Doula's general, Mir Jaflir, who was to desert his chief. and who promised to shower wealth on Clive and the East India Company for his services. On June 23, 1737. Sirs j-ud-Daula was overthrown in the battle of Plassey. This victory decided the as residency of England over France in India, and was followed by the rapid building lip of a Brit ish Indian empire. Mir .Tallir was placed upon the throne of Bengal, and kept his promises. From shares in these and other spoils, and from presents and territorial grants from native princes, Clive amassed vast wealth, which yielded an annual income of £40,000. After managing the affairs of the East India Company at Cal cutta for some years. and winning fresh victories, lie returned to England in 1760, and was loaded with thanks and honors. He became Parliamen tary member for Shrewsbury. was raised to the Irish peerage as Baron Clive of Massey. and in 1764 was created Knight of the Bath. Through the dishonesty of its servants, high and low, the affairs of the Company became greatly involved after his departure from India, and in 1765 he was sent out to set them right. He liroved as competent an administrator as a warrior; and in less than eighteen months. by his uncompromis ing and resolute attitude. "restored perfect order and discipline in both the civil and military ser vices. and brought back prosperity to the well nigh ruined finances of the Company." He re turned to England in 1767. and was received with the distinction to which he was entitled. But the energy he had displayed in righting Indian affairs antagonized many who suffered pecunia rily from the suppression of dishonest practices; and they, possessing influence, employed it in raising English feeling against ('live. His Indian administration was made the subject of animad version in Parliament in 1772. which lie at first ignored, hut subsequently replied to in a vigorous and eloquent speech, which elicited Pitt's ad miration. A Parliamentary inquiry. the follow ing year, failed to find that Clive had acquired wealth by abuse of power: and the only question able incident in his government was proved to be a trick to match Oriental duplicity. At some of the supposedly incriminating evidence. Clive indignantly asserted himself with the celebrated exclamation, "13y God, Sir. Chairman, I stand astonished at my own moderation!" A qualified acquittal, wbkh acknowledged his "great and meritorious services." was not satisfactory to Clive, who never recovered from the disgrace im plied in the trial; this, with sickness, recourse to opium to alleviate his sufferings, and mental de pression. led to his suicide, November 22, 1774.
Consult: Malcolm, Life of Clive (3 vola., Lon don, 1836) ; Malleson. Founders of the Indian Empire: Lord Clive (London. 1892) ; Malleson, Decisive Battles of India (London, 1893) : History of British India, vol. iii. (London, 1858) ; Ornle, Ilistorg of the Military Transac tions of the British Nation in Indostan (London. 1803) ; Macaulay, Essay on Clive (London, 1S40).