This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... lord clive. 1725-1774. Lord Clive has always been one of Macaulay's most popular essays, one instance at least when the favor of the people is deservedly given. The subject is full of live interest, the author is fully master of his theme, and there is an unconscious but perfect harmony between the gorgeous nature of the subject and the picturesque style in which it is treated. The Indian question was one of great importance to England's wealth and commerce, and Macaulay's knowledge of the situation had been gained at first hand by a four years' residence in India in service of the government. No writer was better qualified to furnish a valuable review and criticism of The Life of Robert Lord Clive. Here, as was usual with him, Macaulay devotes a page or so to the book in hand, then brushes it aside and turns to a presentation of his own views. The essay was published in 1840 in the January number of the Edinburgh Review. We have always thought it strange, that while the history of the Spanish empire in America is familiarly known to all the nations of Europe, the great actions of our countrymen in the East should, even among ourselves, excite little interest. Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Montezuma, and who strangled Atahualpa. But we doubt whether one in ten, even among English gentlemen of highly cultivated minds, can tell who won the battle of Buxar, who 161 perpetrated the massacre of Panta, whether Sujali Dowlah ruled in Oude or in Travancore, or whether Holkar was a Hindoo or a Mussulman. Yet the victories of Cortes were gained over savages who had no letters, who were ignorant of the use of metals, who had not broken in a single animal to labor, who wielded no better weapons than those which could be made out of sticks, ...