formed their charge, roused the indignation and rivalry of the English, and occasioned a renewal of hostilities between the nations as auxiliaries to their respective allics among the Indian princes. The English were, however, worsted in every attempt, and their destruction, with that of their friend Mahomed-Alli-Khan, son of the late nabob of Arcot, seemed fast approaching, when, in 1751, Clive re-assumed the military character, under a captain's commission. The important town of Tritchinopoly, the only hope of the young nabob, being then invested by the French and Chundasaheb's troops, Clive proposed, as the sole means of saving it, an attack upon the city of Arcot. The superior genius which dictated this design was felt. Captain Clive, with the small force which was all that could be assembled, was directed to march, and the boldness of the attempt caused it to succeed without resistance. It had the foreseen effect of drawing off the enemy's force from Tritchinopoly; for the son of Chundasaheb, with a numerous army and French engineers, immediately proceeded to the recovery of Arcot. Clive had here to defend a ruinous fortress, provided with very few cannon, and a garrison of fewer than 500 men. In order to augment his artillery, he made a sally, and stormed a battery of the enemy; but though, with great personal hazard, he succeeded in taking possession of it, he was unable to bring away the guns. A breach was made by the French engineers, and the enemy then stormed the fort; but through the admirable dispositions of Clive, and the resolution his presence inspired, they were received in such a manner, that after great slaughter, they thought proper to retire; and soon after the siege was abandoned. So hot was the service in this memorable defence, that the garrison was reduced to eighty Europeans and r20 sepoys fit for action. On being relieved, Clive took the field, and obtained several advantages over the enemy. Early in 1752 he marched at the head of a considerable force, and relieved Arcot, again threatened with a siege, after defeating a superior army. Joining major Laurence at St. David's, he proceed ed with him to the relief of Tritchinopoly, and was eminently instrumental in the successful action which effected that purpose. The army was then divided into two bodies, and the command of one was given to Clive, though a junior captain; for the native troops declared they would follow no other leader. His repeated successes, and his personal escapes from danger, undoubtedly operated upon the superstitious feelings of these people, as his abilities and resolution did upon their reason. A nocturnal attack on his camp, in which his advanced guard was deceived by the language of some deserters, brought him into imminent danger, from which he was rescued only by extraordinary presence of mind. He was, however, wounded; and as he leaned upon the shoulders of two serjeants, they were both shot. dead. In the end, he made prisoners of all the French in the party, and soon afterwards captured a whole detachment under D'Autreuil. This tide of success caused Chundasaheb to be deserted by most of his Indian troops; and putting himself in the hands of the Tanjorine commander, who had promised to convey him to the French camp, he was treacherously murdered. No enemy now remaining in the field, Captain Clive returned to Madras, whence, in 1753, he embarked for England, for the recovery of his ruined health. He was received by the East-India company with every mark of gratitude and esteem. A valuable diamondhilted sword was voted him, which he would not accept, but upon the condition that colonel Laurence should receive a similar present. Clive had not been long in England before he was solicited by the company to take the post governor of St. David's, with a right of succession to the government of Madras. On his acceptance of the offer, they procured for him at commission of lieutenant-colonel in the king's service, with the conduct of three companies of the royal artillery, and three or four hundred of the king's troops. His orders were to join the Mahrattas on the western coast of Hindostan, and with them to attack the French; but finding upon his arrival at Bombay that peace had been made with that power, he engaged with admirals Pocock and Watson in an attack upon the pirate Angria, which conipletely succeeded. He then repaired to his government of St. David's; whence he was soon called to Madras, in order to take the command of a succour to be sent to Bengal, where the nabob Surajah Dowlah had declared against the English, had destroyed their factories, and taken Calcutta, with the shocking circumstance of the destruction of a number of captives in the horrid blackhole. In December, 1756, colonel Clive embarked on board admiral Watson's squadron, which proceeding up the river to the very town of Calcutta, drove out the enemy, and took possession of it, Clive then took the field with his force of 700 Europeans and 12co sepoys, and entrenched himself five miles from Calcutta. The nabob, hearing of the recovery of that city by the English, marched down an army, said to tained a victory which was decisive of the com pany's success in India. This was the famous battle of Plassey, fought by him with 3,200 men, of whom only 900 were Europeans, against an army of 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and fifty pieces of cannon. Its particulars are not very clearly related, and it has been said that colonel Clive, exhausted with fatigue, was asleep in the grove of which his troops had taken possession, at the time of the most critical movement. To his previous dispositions, however, the success may justly be attributed. It was so far complete as to put to flight the nabob and his numerous army, though, for want of horse, the victors could not pursue. Meer Jaffier, with a large body of troops, came over at the close of the action. The routed nabob fled to his capital, and soon after met the usual fate of a defeated prince, that of being betrayed and put to death. When the affair was decided, Omichund was informed that "the red paper was a trick, and he was to have nothing." He fainted at the intelligence, soon after shewed signs of derangement, and died within about a year and a half in a state of idiotism. To make many remarks on this transaction would be superfluous. However conformable to the maxims of eastern policy, all men of honour must regard it as an indelible stain on the memory of Clive, and on the English character. It should be mentioned, that the equally honest and brave admiral Watson refused to sign the fictitious treaty, but that his signature was forged to it. consist of 20,000 horse and 30,000 foot, with cannon and elephants, and encamped near CalThis formidable motion induced Clive to send proposals for peace; and as they were haughtily rejected, he determined, as the only chance of extricating himself, boldly to attack the nabob's camp and seize his cannon. With the aid of 500 seamen from Watson's squadron, he marched in the night-time, and entered the camp a little before day-break. Such was its Such was its extent, that his little army was more than two hours in passing through it; and the alarm and destruction they occasioned was so great, that the nabob next day sent an offer of terms of accommodation, which produced a peace highly advantageous to the company. Colonel Clive then marched against the French settlement of Chandernagore, which he took, with the assistance of the fleet. The mutual injuries inflicted and sustained between Surajah Dowlah and the English, being such as rendered a continuance of amity almost impossible, the politics of Clive led him to a plan of dethroning that nabob, and its execution was entrusted to him and Mr. Watts. One of the principal officers of the nabob, named Meer Jaffier, became their associate, on condition of succeeding to his master's titles and dignity. As it was necessary to employ a confident for carrying on the correspondence between Jaffier and the English, an eminent Gentoo merchant, named Omichund, was engaged for the purpose. When in full possession of the secret, knowing that the lives of Jaffier and of Watts were in his hands, he de- Clive now entered as a victor into Muxadamanded an enormous sum for his services, un- bad, a city so populous that its inhabitants der threats of a disclosure of the whole plot. might have destroyed the small army of English The expedient which, on this critical occasion, with stones and clubs. They were so awed, suggested itself to the mind of colonel Clive, was however, by superior valour, that they offered to draw up a double treaty, in one of which the the commander large sums to secure their stipulation in favour of Omichund's demand property, which he refused, thinking himself was inserted, in the other it was omitted. Both bound to secure it without a bribe. He howwere formally signed, but the first only was ever accepted a present of 210,000 1. from Meer shewn to the Gentoo, who, in full confidence Jaffier, who was now fixed in the dignity of of English good faith, performed his part with nabob. As was natural, the new nabob began punctuality. The nabob, however, entertained to lay a plan of governing without the intersome suspicion of the conspiracy against him; ference of the English, which seems to have and having obliged Meer Jaffer to swear fidelity, been considered by them as a heinous crime. caused him to join his army. The English, Three rebellions which rose against him comwho had advanced in expectation of Jaffier's co-pelled him to call in their aid. Clive suppressed operation, were now in a dreadful dilemma. They were on the bank of a river, and should they cross it in the face of the enemy, a retreat, in case of failure, would be impracticable. In this juncture, Clive summoned the only council of war he ever called, which resolved that the river should not be crossed. Clive, notwithstanding, determined to cross it, and thereby ob two; but he thought it best to make a compromise with the third competitor, who was a man of consequence, and might prove an useful check upon the nabob's independence. Four gentlemen arriving at Calcutta with a commission to act in rotation as governors, the impolicy of such an appointment appeared so evident, that Clive was requested by the council to su persede it by taking the government upon him- Ally-Khan was put into execution. Nabobself; and indeed the company in England had making had, indeed, proved so profitable to the already conferred that post upon him in conse- parties before concerned in it, that all new quence of the battle of Plassey. The son of comers might well be expected to feel a desire the great mogul at this time formed a design of engaging in the same service. With this of reducing to the ancient dominion of that were joined such shameful monopolies and power the now independent provinces of the usurpations on the part of the English traders, Hindoo empire, and had laid siege to Patna. that the nabob's customs were annihilated, and Governor Clive was thereupon hastily summon- the native merchants were ruined. Unable to ed thither, and succeeded in raising the siege, bear this injustice, the new nabob declared the and driving the invader from the province. A trade of the country free for all. This proconjuncture of hazard and difficulty soon after duced a resolution in the council to depose him, arose from the arrival of a large force at Bengal, and restore Meer Jaffier. It was put into exsent by the Dutch governor at Batavia, on the ecution; and Cossim-Ally-Khan, after a tempretext of reinforcing the garrisons in those porary success, in which he made captives of parts belonging to the Dutch company. As the English at Patna, and caused them to be there were strong reasons to suspect that it had massacred, was obliged to take refuge with Subeen invited by the nabob himself in order to jah-ul Dowlah, the nabob of Oude. When destroy the English power, it was resolved by news arrived in England of these changes and Clive that the Dutch should not be allowed to commotions, the directors of the company, fearproceed up the river; and upon their attempting ing the ruin of their affairs in Bengal, turned to do this by force, and landing their troops, co- their eyes upon lord Clive as the only man lonel Ford was directed to attack them by land, capable of restoring peace and prosperity; and, while three of the company's ships were fitted after much contention among themselves, made out against their fleet. Both perfectly succeed him a request to take upon himself the presied, though much inferior in strength. The dency of Bengal, and the command of the troops Dutch land and sea forces were almost all cap- in that province. With this, upon their actured, and a speedy conclusion was put to the quiescence with the terms he proposed, he combusiness by a treaty, in which the Dutch agreed plied; and accordingly, in July, 1764, embarkto pay all expences, on condition of the restitu- ed for India, having first been created by his tion of their property. These striking instances majesty a knight of the Bath. He took with of good fortune and able conduct in governor him four friends, whom the directors gave him Clive procured for him the dignity of omrah for associates; and their powers were so exfrom Dehli, and a grant by Meer Jaffier of a tensive, that they superseded all other authority revenue, called in the language of the country a in the company's settlements. Before their jagheer, consisting of 28,000l. per annum, out arrival, major Adams had changed affairs much of the quit-rents payable by the company to for the better, by totally defeating Sujah-ulthe nabob for the lands they held in the neigh- Dowlah, and compelling him to sue for peace, bourhood of Calcutta. Thus rich in fame, title, while Cossim-Ally-Khan was obliged to wander and property, and having raised the affairs of about as a fugitive. Lord Clive had therefore the company from the brink of ruin to a very an easy task in settling terms of agreement with flourishing condition, the governor embarked the country powers, which he made highly adfor England, where he arrived in 1760. He vantageous for the company, who had, in fact, was welcomed home by the public applause and the disposal of all the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, congratulation which generally wait on success, and Orissa, deducting only 325,000l. payable without any rigorous scrutiny of the means by to the emperor. He found it a more arduous which it has been acquired; and in 1761 his undertaking to reform abuses among the sersovereign conferred upon him the dignity of an vants of the company themselves; nor does it Irish peerage, by the title of lord Clive, baron appear that he did or could do more than put of Plassey. the army establishment upon a better footing, and introduce some regulations into the conduct of the private trade, which, however, left a sufficient opening for future oppressions of the poor natives. He returned to England in 1767, leaving the East-India company in the condition of powerful princes, possessed of vast. revenues, to which prosperity he cannot be de Lord Clive had not long been absent from India, before the seeds of disorder he left behind him ripened into action. Meer Jaffer did not well agree with Mr. Holwell, who for some time officiated as governor; and on the arrival of Mr. Vansittart, a project of transferring the nabobship from Jaffier to his son-in-law Cossim nied to have contributed more than any other single person. It was, therefore, considered by many as an instance of national ingratitude, when, in 1773, a party in the House of Commons, supported by the minister, made an attack upon him by moving a resolution, "that in the acquisition of his wealth, lord Clive had abused the powers with which he was entrusted." The charges brought forward in consequence of the motion had a very serious aspect; but with the assistance of Mr. Wedderburne (since lord Loughborough and chancellor), he made such a defence, that the house rejected the motion, and resolved "That lord Clive had rendered great and meritorious services to his country" which resolution, it may be observed, was by no means a contradiction to the motion. From that time his broken health, and probably his injured peace of mind, rendered him a prey to the most gloomy depression of spirits, under the morbid influence of which he put an end to his life and sufferings in November, 1774, at the age of fifty. A physiognomist would probably have judged very unfavourably of the moral and intellectual qualities of Lord Clive. He had a most remarkably heavy brow, which gave a close and sullen expression to his features. He was indeed of a reserved temper, and sparing of words; yet it is said that he unbent among his intimates, and gave way to pleasantry and jocularity. It was a real advantage to him that he was always self-directed, and kept his decisions secret. In the relations of private life he was kind and amiable, and freely imparted the wealth he had acquired. He had a remarkable talent of inspiring confidence into those under his command, to which his uncommon intrepidity and presence of mind principally contributed. Lord Chatham happily characterised him as "a heaven-born general, who, without experience, surpassed all the officers of his time." He represented in parliament the borough of Shrewsbury from 1760 to his death, but rarely spoke; yet when roused to exertion by the attack made upon him, it is said that he displayed an eloquence seldom surpassed. By his wife, the daughter of Edward Maskelyne, esq. he left two sons and three daughters. Biog. Britan.--A. CLODIUS, PUBLIUS, a distinguished name in the annals of party violence and profligacy, was of an ancient and noble Roman family, wealthy and eloquent, but from his youth addicted to every kind of debauchery. He was even suspected of a criminal intercourse with his three sisters, one of whom was the wife of Lucullus. He served under that commander in Asia, and being discontented at not obtaining the military rank he expected, he raised a mutiny in the army. By flattering addresses to the troops, he gained the name of the soldier's friend; and it appears that the popularity he acquired by courting the vulgar, never forsook him. In the Catilinarian conspiracy he took part with the senate, and attended Cicero as one of his guards. Soon after, he made himself notorious by the circumstances of an intrigue carried on with Pompeia the wife of Julius Cæsar, who entertained a passion for him. The vigilance of Aurelia, Caesar's mother, rendered an interview between the lovers very difficult; it was concluded between them, that Clodius fhould take the opportunities of the mysteries of the Bona Dea, which were performed in Cæsar's house on account of his prætorship, to gain admission in a female habit. Disguised as a music girl, he was let in by Pompeia's maid, who left him to acquaint her mistress of his arrival. In the mean time Clodius wandered about from room to room, avoiding the lights, till he happened to fall in with Aurelia's woman. Being asked by her, who he was, his voice betrayed his sex. As it was reckoned the highest profanation for any male creature to be present at those mysteries, an alarm was immediately raised, that a man was among the company; and Clodius being found lurking in the chamber of the maid who admitted him, was turned out of the house, and the assembly broke up in confusion. Next day he was accused by one of the tribunes of impiety and sacrilege; but being favoured by the people, the judges were afraid of condemning him, and he was acquitted. Cicero's appearing to give evidence that he was at Rome the day this happened,' contrary to his assertion in his defence, laid the foundation of the rancorous enmity which Clodius ever after displayed against that great man. Not long after, procuring himself to be adopted into a plebeian family, he was chosen tribune of the people by the interest of Pompey and Cæsar, who made use of his popularity to favour their schemes of power. As the presence of Cato was a check upon his audacious measures, he obtained a decree of the people for the deposition of Ptolemy king of Cyprus, with an order that Cato should carry it into execution. (See CATO of Utica.) By this unjust decree Clodius also gratified his hatred against Ptolemy, who had refused to pay an adequate ransom for him when taken prisoner by some Cilician pirates. Clodius was now able effectually to carry on his designs against Cicero, whom he attacked by proposing a law denouncing the penalties of treason upon any one who had been concerned in putting to death a Roman citizen without trial; alluding to the execution of the Catilinarian conspirators. By this, and his personal violences, he succeeded in driving Cicero into banishment, and then burnt his house in Rome and his villas. (See CICERO.) Devoting himself entirely to Cæsar's interest, he began to insult and oppose Pompey, who thereupon exerted himself to procure the recal of Cicero. Great disturb ances ensued between the parties; till the tribune Milo having by force driven Clodius and his followers from the forum, Cicero was unanimously recalled. One of his first acts after his return was to destroy all the records of the tribunitial acts of Clodius, on the plea that his tribuneship was illegal. Not long after, B.C. 53, Clodius was killed in an accidental encounter with Milo, as he was returning from his country-house. Cicero in his famous oration in defence of Milo, labours with great art to prove that Clodius was the aggressor, and had previously planned the encounter, but this does not appear to have been the real case, and Milo was condemned to banishment. The people shewed their attachment to the memory of Clodius on this occasion, by burning Milo's house, and making a funeral pile for the dead body of the benches of the senate-house. Plutarchi Cicero, Cato, Casar, Lucullus. Univers. Hist.-A. CLELIA, a virgin of great celebrity in the early history of Rome, was one of the ten female hoftages given by the Romans to king Porsena, when he besieged their city, B.C. 507. Escaping from the guards with her companions, she swam over the Tiber at their head, and brought them all safe to their friends in Rome. Porsena, irritated at this breach of faith, for such it was, redemanded the hostages. They were sent back; when Cloelia boldly acknowledged herself to have been the leader in the exploit. The king, struck with admiration at the spirit she had shewn, bestowed great applause upon her, and presenting her with a fine horse, allowed her and her companions to return. The story is told with variations; and some writers, with more probability, represent Cloelia as making her escape alone, and crossing the river upon a horse which she accidentally met with. Some critics suppose the whole to have been a fable; yet the authority for it seems to be as good as for any of the events of that period. Plutarch affirms that an equestrian statue of Clolia was to be seen in the Via Sacra in his time; and the fact is mentioned by all VOL. III. the historians, and alluded to by the poets. Livy. Dionys. Halic. Plutarch in Poplicol. Florus.-A. CLOPINEL, see MEUN, John de. CLOTAIRÉ I. king of France, was the third son of Clovis by his wife Clotildis, and was born in 497. At the death of his father in 511 he inherited the kingdom of Soissons. He joined his brothers in the invasion of the kingdom of Burgundy; and Clodomir, one of the brothers, being killed in this expedition, Clotaire, with his brother Thierri, took possession. of his dominions as guardians to their nephews. Clotaire then joined Thierri in an invasion of Thuringia, in which he signalised his military talents, but narrowly escaped being murdered by his brother at a conference. In 533 Clotaire and his brother Childebert having got into their power their nephews, the orphan sons of Clodomir, Clotaire stabbed two of them with his own hands; and the third being conveyed away by his attendants, this bloody prince caused all the tutors and domestics of the children to be put to death. (See CHILDEBERT I.) He afterwards, with Childebert, completed the conquest of Burgundy. In 543 they joined in an irruption into Spain, and penetrated as far as Saragossa; but on returning with their booty, they underwent a defeat from the Gothic general Tudiscles. In 555, on the extinction of the line of Thierri, Clotaire succeeded to the kingdom of Metz, or Austrasia. He was immediately involved in a war with the revolted Saxons and Thuringians, whom he defeated near the Weser. His eldest son, Chramnes, being seduced by his uncle Childebert, took up arms against him, but was obliged to submit on the death of Childebert, in 558, on which event Clotaire became sole monarch of the Franks. Chramnes, however, supported by the court of Bretagne, rebelled again; but being defeated, he was shut up with his wife and children in a thatched cottage, where, by his father's orders, they were all burnt to death. These horrors were expiated by Clotaire in the manner usual in that age, by rich offerings to churches and acts of devotion. acts of devotion. Soon after, while hunting in the forest of Guise, he was seized with a fever, and died at Compeigne in 561, having reigned near fifty-one years. On his death-bed he made a reflection natural to a potent barbarian : "What must be the power of the King of heaven, who thus brings to an end the greatest kings on earth!" He married six wives, and left four sons, who divided his dominions. Moreri. Mod. Univers. Hist.-A. - CLOTAIRE II. son of Chilperic I. succeeded at four months of age to his father's kingdom G |