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discomfited, that they agreed to defray the expenses of the contest; and the attack was no less honourable to the disinterestedness, than to the acuteness, of Clive; for he had, but a short time before, remitted to Europe two-thirds of his fortune through the Dutch company; England being, at that time, and even when the action took place, at peace with Holland.

The Emperor of Delhi now conferred upon him the dignity of omrah; Meer Jaffier granted him a revenue of 28,000l. per annum; and, on his return to England, he was created Baron Clive, of Plassey, in Ireland, and returned to parliament as member for Shrewsbury, which place he represented during the remainder of his life. The public were too much dazzled with his success to investigate the means by which it had been produced; and, for a considerable period, few men enjoyed more popularity than "the hero of Plassey."

He was offered, but refused, on account of ill health, the chief command in the American war: in July, 1764, he, however, accepted the governor-generalship of India, whither he immediately proceeded. Before his arrival, Meer Jaffier had been deposed and again restored; and the Nabob of Oude, having succoured Cossum Aly Khan, the temporary possessor of his dignity, had also been defeated by the British forces under Major Adams; so that Lord Clive had merely to settle the terms of an arrangement, which he did, materially to the company's advantage.

On returning to England, in 1769, he was made a knight of the Bath; but he did not enjoy his honours and riches in peace. A charge, supported by the minister, was brought forward in the house of commons against him, in 1773, for having, in the acquisition of his wealth, abused the powers with which he had been intrusted. With the assistance of Wedderburne, he made a capital defence, which he concluded in the following terms:-"If the resolution proposed should receive the assent of the house, I

shall have nothing left that I can call my own, ex cept my paternal income of 500l. a year, which has been in the family for ages past. But upon this I am content to live; and, perhaps, I shall find more real content of mind and happiness, than in the trembling affluence of an unsettled fortune. But to be called, after sixteen years have elapsed, to account for my conduct in this manner; and, after an uninterrupted enjoyment of my property, to be questioned, and considered as obtaining it unwarrantably, is hard indeed, and a treatment of which I should not think the British senate capable. Yet, if this should be the case, I have a conscious innocence within me, that tells me my conduct is irreproachable. Frangas, non flectes : they may take from me what I have; they may,_as they think, make me poor; but I will be happy. Before I sit down, I have one request to make to the house; that, when they come to decide upon my honour, they will not forget their own." The accusation against him was neither refuted nor declared to be groundless; the house having concluded the debate on the subject, with a vote that Lord Clive had rendered great and meritorious services to his country.

His constitution had never recovered from the effects of the nervous fever, produced by fatigue during the early part of his military career; and his health being now completely broken, and his high spirit irritated by the proceedings against him in parliament, he became morbidly depressed; and, at length, on the 22d of November, 1774, put an end to his existence. He was, at that time, lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the counties of Salop and Montgomery, doctor of laws, and fellow of the royal society. By his wife, a sister of Dr. Maskelyne, astronomer royal, he had three daughters and two sons.

As a father, a husband, and a friend, the conduct of Lord Clive is said to have been irreproachable. His manners were reserved among strangers; but,

with his intimates, he was lively, frank, and agreeable. He seldom spoke in the house of commons, although it is clear, from his few speeches, that he possessed considerable powers of eloquence. In person, he was rather above the middle size; and his brow, naturally heavy on account of a fulness above the eyelid, is described as having imparted a sullen and disagreeable expression to his countenance.

As a soldier, his intrepidity has rarely been equalled; and his skill as a commander, was, evidently, on a par with his courage. He raised himself to eminence by talents, on which he relied implicitly to support it. He never called but one council of war, (on the eve of the battle of Plassey,) and then acted in direct opposition to its advice. Utterly careless of life, his presence of mind never forsook him; and his energy invariably rose in proportion to the difficulty and distress of his situation. The East India Company never had a more zealous, gifted, and efficient commander. He found its power dreadfully depressed, its forts in the hands of the enemy, its revenues diminished, and its very existence threatened with destruction: he left it in peaceful possession of immense revenues, and dominant over fifteen millions of people. Nor was this all: for he contributed materially to the annihilation of its rivals, the French and Dutch, and laid the foundation of future victories, and further acquirements of territory, riches, and influence. He seems to have been actuated by one strong leading principle, the aggrandizement of the company; to which, even the advancement of his own fortunes was evidently secondary. His plot with Meer Jaffier, against the Nabob Surajah Dowlah, notwithstanding the previous atrocities of the latter, and however advantageous it may have been to the company and himself, was grossly unjustifiable; his trick upon Omichund, though successful, was mean and contemptible; and his acceptance of Meer Jaffier's enormous donation, was, under the circumstances,

derogatory to the character of a soldier and a man of honour. To his credit, it is stated, that he was a liberal supporter of benevolent institutions, and presented, to the invalids of the East India Company, the immense sum of 70,000l.

GENERAL WOLFE.

JAMES, the son of Lieutenant-General Edward Wolfe, was born at Westerham, in Kent, in 1726. He entered very early into the army, and devoted himself, with ardour, not only to the acquisition of professional, but of general knowledge. During a visit to a professor, at the University of Glasgow, he felt so mortified at finding the conversation turn on subjects with which he was totally unacquainted, that, on the following day, he waited again on the professor, and earnestly besought the latter to put him in the way of acquiring that information, of which he had found himself so deficient. His desire being complied with, he forthwith entered upon a course of study prescribed by the professor, which he continued to pursue with extraordinary zeal during the residue of his stay at Glasgow, where his regiment was then quartered.

In the German war, during which he obtained the lieutenancy of the twentieth regiment of foot, then commanded by Kingsley, he acquired great reputation for his courage and military skill, particularly at the battle of Laffeldt, although it took place when he was not above twenty years of age. In 1757, he accompanied the inglorious expedition against Rochefort as quarter-master-general, and vainly recommended an attempt at landing. Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, who was then premier, felt much dissatisfied at the conduct of those who had been intrusted with the chief command on this occasion; Wolfe, on the contrary, was applauded and promoted; and, after

he had acquired an increase of reputation as a soldier, at the capture of Louisburg, he was judiciously placed, with the rank of major-general, at the head of the forces destined to act against Quebec.

He accordingly embarked, with about eight thousand men, on board the fleet, commanded by Admiral Saunders, and arrived, at the latter end of June, 1759, in the river St. Lawrence. Montcalm, an experienced French general, at the head of ten thousand men, having posted himself in a strong situation, on what was deemed the only accessible side of Quebec, Wolfe, by a variety of manœuvres, attempted to decoy him into an engagement: but Montcalm resolved to risk nothing; wisely relying on the natural strength of the country, and his numerous troops of the wary natives, which were so posted, that to surprise him appeared impossible. At length, Wolfe determined on attacking the French in their entrenchments; but, notwithstanding his prudence and skill, the attempt was altogether unsuccessful, and he brought off his troops with some difficulty, after they had suffered a considerable loss.

The failure of some operations that he subsequently attempted, the rapid advance of the season, the inflexible resolution of Montcalm to act only on the defensive, produced a most serious effect on his spirits; and his constitution, naturally delicate, became materially ed by anxiety and fatigue. But, having partian ered, he renewed his attempts, to bring Montcalm to an engagement, with increased energy. After amusing and deceiving the enemy by several feints, he embarked with his forces about one in the morning of the 13th of September, 1759, and drifted with the tide, unobserved by the enemy's sentinels, who were posted along the shore, with a view to gain the heights at the back of the town; but, unfortunately, the current carried the boats beyond the spot where he had intended to land; and when the troops were put on snore, they found a steep hill in front of

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