Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,030 pages of information about Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 1.

Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,030 pages of information about Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 1.
the main strength of the invading army, were killed or taken.  The conquerors sat down before Chinsurah; and the chiefs of that settlement, now thoroughly humbled, consented to the terms which Clive dictated.  They engaged to build no fortifications, and to raise no troops beyond a small force necessary for the police of their factories; and it was distinctly provided that any violation of these covenants should be punished with instant expulsion from Bengal.

Three months after this great victory, Clive sailed for England.  At home, honours and rewards awaited him, not indeed equal to his claims or to his ambition, but still such as, when his age, his rank in the army, and his original place in society are considered, must be pronounced rare and splendid.  He was raised to the Irish peerage, and encouraged to expect an English title.  George the Third, who had just ascended the throne, received him with great distinction.  The ministers paid him marked attention; and Pitt, whose influence in the House of Commons and in the country was unbounded, was eager to mark his regard for one whose exploits had contributed so much to the lustre of that memorable period.  The great orator had already in Parliament described Clive as a heaven-born general, as a man who, bred to the labour of the desk, had displayed a military genius which might excite the admiration of the King of Prussia.  There were then no reporters in the gallery; but these words, emphatically spoken by the first statesman of the age, had passed from mouth to mouth, had been transmitted to Clive in Bengal, and had greatly delighted and flattered him.  Indeed, since the death of Wolfe, Clive was the only English general of whom his countrymen had much reason to be proud.  The Duke of Cumberland had been generally unfortunate; and his single victory, having been gained over his countrymen and used with merciless severity, had been more fatal to his popularity than his many defeats.  Conway, versed in the learning of his profession, and personally courageous, wanted vigour and capacity.  Granby, honest, generous, and brave as a lion, had neither science nor genius.  Sackville, inferior in knowledge and abilities to none of his contemporaries, had incurred, unjustly as we believe, the imputation most fatal to the character of a soldier.  It was under the command of a foreign general that the British had triumphed at Minden and Warburg.  The people therefore, as was natural, greeted with pride and delight a captain of their own, whose native courage and self-taught skill had placed him on a level with the great tacticians of Germany.

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Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.