Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/66

 244 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS blinded by the halo that encompassed him, he saw little, and deemed less, per- haps, of mankind and their doings. In the mass they may possibly not be de- serving of high admiration, but Frederick had never done them even justice; and in the latter years of his life, he entirely lost sight of the direction they were taking ; he formed an ideal world to himself, and governed his country and sub- jects accordingly. He was the admired wonder of the age ; a brilliant, if not spotless sun, that cast far aloft its vivid beams, indeed, but remained stationary and concentrated within itself, while all surrounding nature was in motion and in progress. ROBERT, LORD CLIVE By W. C. Taylor, LL.D. (1725-1774) T' a parallel in the annals of mankind. It is little over a hundred years ago since " the company of British merchants trad- ing with the East Indies " possessed noth- ing more than a few ports favorably situ- ated for commerce, held at the will, or rather the caprice, of the native princes, and defended against commercial rivals by miserable fortifications, which could not have resisted any serious attack. Now British sovereignty in India extends over an empire greater than that possessed by Alexander or the Caesars, and probably superior to both in the amount of its wealth and population. The chief agent in raising the East India Company from a trading association to a sovereign power was Lord Clive, whose own elevation was scarcely less marvellous than that of the empire which he founded. Robert Clive was born September 29, 1725 ; his father was a country gentle- man, of moderate fortune and still more moderate capacity, who cultivated his own estate in Shropshire. When a boy, the future hero of Ijidia distinguished himself chiefly by wild deeds of daring and courage, neglecting the opportunities of storing his mind with information, the want of which he bitterly felt in after- life. His violent temper, and his neglect of study, led his family to despair of his success at home, and, in his eighteenth year, he was sent out as a "writer,"
 * HE history of British India is without