considerable influence in his favour. The Proprietors, however, as a body, were determined that no obstacle should be allowed to stand in the way of Clive's acceptance of the government. It was in vain that Sullivan and his friends argued that the appointment of Clive would be unfair to more than one public servant in India, that it would be unjust to supersede Vansittart, whom they supposed to be still at the head of the government, and that Spencer, a Bombay civil servant who had been nominated to succeed Vansittart, ought not to be passed over. The Court of Proprietors refused, and indignantly refused, to listen to any of these arguments.

The election of Directors took place in the spring, and Clive's opponents, finding that they could not prevail against the general desire that he should resume his post in India, endeavoured to hurry his departure in order that he might be out of the way when the impending election to the Direction took place. But Clive was determined, and was not to be shaken in his decision, to remain in England until the election was over, and when he was informed that a ship was available for him, he declined to sail, repeating the conditions on which he had accepted the appointment. An attempt was then made to procure the annulment of his appointment; but this failed. The election was held on the 25th April, and the result was less favourable to Clive than had been expected; for out of the twenty-four Directors twelve

were supporters of Clive and twelve of Sullivan; but both the chairman and deputy-chairman were friends of Clive. In regard to the higher appointments in India, Clive's views were adopted with the single exception that Forde, whose claims to high military employment were unquestionable, would seem to have been again ignored. Whether Clive again pressed Forde's claims on this occasion does not clearly appear, but we know that it was at the instance of Clive that Forde in 1769 was sent out as one of the supervisors appointed to report upon and control Indian administration.

After all that had taken place, it is not surprising that the Bengal Council, as then composed, commanded little or no confidence. In these circumstances Clive urged that he should be invested with power to overrule the Council on his own responsibility whenever he deemed it necessary to do so. This power, which since 1793 has been vested in successive Governors-General, the Court of Directors at that time did not think fit to give; but in order to meet Clive's views they resorted to the somewhat clumsy expedient of appointing a Select Committee, including and nominated by Clive, which was empowered to act without consulting the Council.

CHAPTER XIII

CLIVE RETURNS TO INDIA FOR THE LAST TIME

DEATH OF MÍR JAFAR-SUCCESSION OF NÁZIM

UD

DAULAH-APPOINTMENT

OF SELECT COM

MITTEE SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN MEMBERS OF
INCOMPETENCY OF THE NEW

THE

COUNCIL

NAWÁB TRANSFER OF THE DIWÁNI TO THE

COMPANY.

CLIVE sailed from Portsmouth on the 4th June 1764, and after a tedious and prolonged voyage, reached Calcutta on the 3d May in the following year. Before sailing he placed before the chairman of the Company his views on the situation in India. He condemned the course taken by the Government of Bengal in permitting Kásim Ali to establish himself at so great a distance from Calcutta that the Government could not exercise an effective control over his proceedings, and in practically encouraging him to assume an independent position. The princes of the country,' he said, 'must in a great measure be dependent on us, or we totally so on them.' In his opinion it was 'impossible to rely upon the moderation or justice of Mussulmans.' He had long been

K

convinced that the whole of the British possessions in India ought to be under one head, and he now expressed his opinion that if ever the appointment of such an officer as Governor-General should become necessary, he ought to be established in Bengal, as the greatest weight of your civil, commercial, political and military affairs will always be in that province.'

Clive arrived at Madras on the 10th April 1765, and then heard of the death of Mir Jafar, which had taken place on the 25th February. Mír Jafar had left a natural son, Názim ud Daulah, a lad of eighteen, and a grandson, a son of Míran, a child of six. Clive at once decided to recognise the grandson as Nawab, and to rule in his name during his minority, but on reaching Calcutta he found that Názim ud Daulah had already been placed on the throne. In the circumstances, this appointment, made as it was with the full knowledge that Clive was expected to arrive immediately, was obviously indecent. The motive for it is supplied by Mill, who tersely remarks: 'Názim ud Daulah could give presents; the infant son of Míran, whose revenues must be accounted for to the Company, could not.'

Clive's unfavourable opinion of the Council was speedily justified. Those gentlemen had lost no time in following the precedents of 1757, of 1761 and of 1764, by making it a condition of the succession of the new Nawab that he should make large presents to themselves.

The sums thus exacted on this occa

The

sion amounted to £139,357, and were received in defiance of a despatch from the Court of Directors, which reached Calcutta a fortnight before Mír Jafar's death, forbidding their servants to accept presents from natives, and requiring them to execute covenants framed to secure obedience to this order. order, however, had been ignored, and the covenants had remained unexecuted. Shortly before this time Vansittart had retired, and had been succeeded by Spencer. Of this gentleman Clive had previously formed a good opinion, but on looking into matters he came to the conclusion that Spencer was as corrupt as his colleagues, and also that he was extremely deficient in independence of character. He had lowered the status of the office of Governor to such an extent that, in Clive's words, 'the office had been hunted down, stripped of its dignity and then divided into sixteen shares '-sixteen being the number of members of Council. Clive lost no time, on assuming the government, in notifying to the Council the powers which had been assigned to the Select Committee. Two of the members of Council seeming disposed to question those powers, Clive at once cut them short, intimating that he would not permit any discussion on the subject, but that if the members of Council thought fit, they might record their dissents. Within a week after his arrival, he insisted upon the immediate execution of the covenants ordered by the Court, failing which the recusants were to be sus