Mr.
Walsh, his secretary during the campaign of Plassey and the year
following, and whom he describes as 'a thorough master of the
subject,' 'able to explain to you the whole design and the facility
with which it may be executed.'

Mr. Pitt received the letter, but was deterred from {141}acting upon
it by difficulties which arose in his mind from his want of knowledge
of India and of matters connected with that country. To the son of a
man whose father had been Governor of Madras in the days when the
English were the humble lessees of the lords of the soil, the
proposition to become masters of territories far larger and richer
than their island home, seemed beset with difficulties which, if it
may be said without disrespect to his illustrious memory, existed
solely in his own imagination--for they have since been very easily
overcome.

The letter served to make Clive personally known to the great
statesman when he landed in England in September or October, 1760. He
had returned a very rich man; he was full of ambition; his fame as a
soldier had spread all over the kingdom. Pitt, shortly before his
arrival (1758), had spoken of him in the House of Commons as a
'Heaven-born General,' as the only officer, by land or sea, who had
sustained the reputation of the country and added to its glory. The
King himself, George II, when the Commander-in-chief had proposed to
him to send the young Lord Dunmore to learn the art of war under
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, had replied, 'What can he get by
attending the Duke of Brunswick? If he want to learn the art of war,
let him go to Clive.' These expressions show at least the temper of
the times, the feelings which would inspire the welcome which England
would give to her latest hero. And yet the welcome itself fell far
short of that which Clive had {142}anticipated. From the Crown there
was no immediate recognition; from the Court of Directors, a hostile
section of which held the supremacy, he received worse than neglect.
Almost their first act was to dispute his right to the jagir which
Mir Jafar had bestowed upon him.[1] From the general public there was
no demonstration. Clive felt that in England as in India he would
have to fight his way upwards.

[Footnote 1: See Chapter X, footnote 12.]

His health was not very good. He suffered from rheumatism, which had
assailed him in Bengal, and which bore a strong resemblance to
rheumatic gout. Scarcely had he recovered from this m