Lord Curzon also laid stress on Clive's exertions to purify
the Administration, and his freedom from self- seeking, and concluded :—" He was a great man. He was a great Englishman. He was one of these Titanic forces that rise above the obscure surge of humanity to affect the fortunes, for good or evil, of the world. That Clive's work was for the good of England, for the good of India, and for the good of mankind, no one can reasonably doubt, and posterity, correcting the errors and atoning for the injustice of his contemporaries, has rightly assigned to him an imperishable niche in the temple of fame." Lord Curzon might have added that Clive had one of the essential marks of a great mind,—style in the written and spoken word. Could the pang of physical anguish obtain more poignant expression than in Clive's letter to Henry Strachey ? "How miserable is my condition. I have a disease which makes life insupportable, but which my Doctors tell me won't shorten it one hour."
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