Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1132

CLO India. He declared that actions had been committed under the sanction of the company's servants which made the name of the English stink in the nostrils of a Gentoo or a Mussulman; that the company's servants had interfered with the revenues of the nabob; turned out and put in the officers of the government at pleasure, and made every one pay for their preferment. In order to effect a reform, Clive stopped private commercial speculation on the part of the company's servants, and when there was a "strike" among the gentlemen, very unceremoniously filled up their places with substitutes from Madras. He wished to make the company's service a sufficient dignity and profit in itself and for itself, hence awarded the proceeds of the salt monopoly to make up for the loss arising from the surrender of private trade. He enforced the direction that all presents above a certain value should be handed over to the company. Two hundred officers threatened to resign on the same day upon occasion of a financial reform, but Clive gave commissions to civilians, threw himself upon the faithfulness of his sepoys, and thus triumphed by firm boldness over what might have been a fatal mutiny. While these measures were going on, Clive procured from the Mogul sovereign a warrant for the administration and the collection of the revenues of Bengal, Bohar, and Orissa, and thus connected the authority of the company with that native potentate who was, even in his weakness, considered by the natives the legitimate source of all rank. Clive perceived that the company must either abandon all, or take all into their own hands and rule as a military power, and directed his policy towards the establishment of an imperial sway. Clive's health again compelled him to leave India—it proved for ever. He landed at Portsmouth, 14th July, 1767, but found no peace in his native land. Those whom his civil reforms had deprived of opportunities for amassing wealth were numerous, and their enmity was unrelenting. His fellow-countrymen were taught to cast on him the burden of every Indian abuse by those who knew they would have been wealthier men had Clive been less just. Colonel Burgoyne obtained a select committee of the house to inquire into Indian matters, and Clive was cross-examined with bitter and eager enmity. He defended himself with frank and impetuous, although dignified and collected eloquence; and, when the house of commons had resolved that acquisitions made by the arms of the state belong to the state, and that Clive had received large sums from Meer Jaffier, it yet stopped short of voting the great general a paltry criminal, and unanimously agreed to the motion—That Robert Lord Clive did, at the same time, render great and meritorious services to his country. Clive's shattered health could endure no more. He had sought in opium a solace for his physical sufferings, until his mind was overcome by the weakness of the flesh, and he died by his own hand on the 22nd of November, 1774, at the age of forty-eight.—L. L. P.  CLODIUS: a family settled at Neustadt, which produced several members distinguished in letters.—, born 15th August, 1645, was an eminent theologian and philosopher, and died at the ripe age of seventy-eight, leaving a considerable number of dissertations.—His son,, after studying medicine and languages at Jena, settled in Leipzig, where he became eminent as a linguist, especially in oriental tongues, and filled the chair of Arabic in the university. He died in 1745, having written a large number of treatises, principally philological.—M. , another son of Johann, was a man of letters, but more noted as the father of the poet, Christian August.—J. F. W.  CLODIUS,, a German writer, was born at Annaberg in 1738, and died at Leipzig, 30th November, 1784, where he had honourably filled the chair of rhetoric and poetry. He wrote—"Medon," a drama; "Versuche aus der Literatur und Moral;" "Neue Vermischte Schriften," 1780, 4 vols.; and Odenm, a monthly magazine, 1784.—K. E.  CLODIUS,, son of the former, born at Altenburg, 21st September, 1772, was professor of practical philosophy at Leipzig, where he died 30th March, 1836. He wrote poems; "Eros and Psyche," an allegorical poem; "Entwurf einer systematischen Poetik; "Von Gott in der Natur, in der Menschengeschichte und im Bewasstsein," 4 vols., and edited Klopstock's Remains—K. E.  CLODIUS,, youngest son of Appius Clodius, member of the illustrious Claudian family, lived in the first half of the century ., and was notorious, even in that profligate age, for the open profligacy of his manners, and his avarice and ambition. In 78 . He served in Asia under his brother-in-law Lucullus; but, taking offence at his not receiving the promotion he expected, he excited a mutiny among the troops. He then joined his other brother-in-law, Q. Marcius Rex, proconsul in Cilicia, and was intrusted with the command of some ships; but he was defeated and taken prisoner by pirates, who, however, set him at liberty through fear of Pompey. He afterwards served in Syria and in Transalpine Gaul, where he extorted money by the most nefarious means. On his return to Rome he mixed himself up with the intrigues and contentions of the factions who were then struggling for supremacy, and plunged into the most scandalous excesses. He was accused of incestuous intercourse with his own sisters; and in 62. profaned the mysteries of the Bona Dea, by entering, in the disguise of a female, the house in which they were celebrated, in order to meet Pompeia, the wife of Cæsar, with whom he had an intrigue. He was detected and brought to trial for this gross outrage, but escaped punishment by bribing his judges. He contracted bitter enmity to Cicero, who gave evidence against him on his trial, and in order to accomplish his revenge upon the great orator, renounced his patrician rank, and was adopted into a plebeian family, that he might obtain the office of tribune of the people. He was elected tribune in 58 .; and, with the assistance of Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus, succeeded in driving Cicero into exile, though he was unable to prevent his recall in the following year. A fierce quarrel in consequence broke out between Clodius and Milo, the new tribune of the people, an active friend of Cicero, which led to frequent fights in the streets of Rome between their adherents. At length the rivals met accidentally on the Appian Way, 20th of Jan., 52. An affray ensued between their followers, and Clodius was killed. The mob, with whom he was a great favourite, broke out at his burial into a violent tumult, which was not without difficulty suppressed by Pompey.—(See .)—J. T.  CLŒLIA, a Roman heroine, who lived about 508. According to Livy, she was one of the hostages given to Porsenna, but made her escape from the Etruscan camp by swimming across the Tiber. The Romans sent her back, but Porsenna was so struck with her extraordinary daring, that he not only set her at liberty, but also released a number of the other hostages. The Romans erected an equestrian statue of the heroine in the Sacred Way, in commemoration of her exploit.—J. T.  CLONCURRY,, Baron, an Irish politician who occupied a prominent position in his day, was born in Dublin on the 19th of August, 1773. His father was a wealthy Roman catholic who two years after the birth of Valentine, was made a peer. Valentine's school-days were spent at Portarlington, where he had both good education and good company. Thence he passed to King's college, Chester, being domesticated with the bishop of the diocese, and finally entered Trinity college, Dublin, where he took a prominent part in the famous Historical Society. In 1792 he went to Switzerland, where he remained for two years. On his return he joined the society of "United Irishmen," but though elected one of the executive committee, he attended only one meeting. While keeping his terms at the middle temple, young Lawless was a constant visitor at the house of John M'Namara, where he became aquainted with many eminent men, including Horne Tooke, Reeves, Sir Francis Burdett, and Pitt. On his return to Ireland he was deeply impressed with the impolicy of the proposed legislative union, and accordingly published his "Thoughts on the Projected Union with Great Britain and Ireland," a pamphlet which increased the jealousy with which he began to be regarded by the government of the day. Again in London, Lawless joined a club called the United Irish, which he assures us had no connection with the United Irishmen, and was not political, but merely social and benevolent. Nevertheless it became the object of suspicion, and one of its acts being a subscription for one Finnerty, the editor of the Press newspaper—which Lawless had himself supported, and which was burned by the hangman for a seditious libel—the government imagined the members were in treasonable communication with the French directory. In addition to this, Lawless assisted a priest of the name of Quigley, who was shortly afterwards hanged for treason, and a letter of this man's to Lawless having been found, the government caused Lawless and three others to be arrested. After an imprisonment of six weeks he was discharged, with the observation that he had been imprudent rather than criminal. On the 14th of April, 1799, 