vince was annexed by Lord Dalhousie's Government to British territory, and the Nawab was removed to Calcutta, and, after the mutiny of the Bengal army, to British Burma. Important as the arrangement was, it cannot be said that it completely met the requirements of the case. It was open to some of the objections which invariably attach to a double government. Under it, the collection of the revenue was left to persons appointed by the representatives of the Company, and the Company was thus insured against a failure of the funds which were necessary to meet the expenses of their administration. The army was placed under the Company, but the administration of justice was left under the Nawab. It was Clive's policy to rely as far as possible upon native agency, and to maintain the semblance of the Nawab's authority, while retaining the real power in the hands of the Company. Very soon, however, he found it necessary to appoint three English supervisors to control the collection of the revenues; but this plan proved upon trial to be by no means sufficient, and after a lapse of seven years, Warren Hastings was compelled to entrust the executive duties, including the collection and administration of the revenues, to English civil servants, who were, and still are, styled collectors. The creation of courts of justice, and of some semblance of police, was the work of the same very able administrator. In thus postponing the re open assumption by the English of the government of Bengal, Clive was actuated by political considerations. He deemed it inexpedient, having regard to the position of the Company in lation to foreign European powers, and also in relation to the independent native princes, that the Company should appear openly as the rulers of Bengal, and for this reason he maintained the pageant of a Nawáb, 'through whom any encroachment attempted by foreign powers could be effectually crushed by the military force at disposal,' and 'all real grievances complained of by them could through the same channel be examined into and redressed.' Clive was unwilling to do any act by an exertion of the English power which can equally be done by the Nawáb at our instance, as that would be throwing off the mask, and would be declaring the Company Subah of the Provinces.' our Clive's views as to the limits of the Company's territory were at that time very decided. His foreign policy was by no means a forward one. He considered it absolutely unsafe to advance beyond Allahabad, and held that the English should be content with the three provinces of Bengal, Behár and Orissa, in addition to their acquisitions in South and Western India. In a state paper which he wrote at this time, the following expressions occur :— 'Our possessions should be bounded by the Provinces.' 'Studiously maintain peace; it is the ground work of our prosperity.' 'Never consent to act offensively against any powers except in defence of our own, the King's or the Nawáb Vazír's dominions, as stipulated by treaty, and above all things be assured that a march to Delhi would be not only a vain and fruitless project, but attended with destruction to our own army, and perhaps put a period to the very being of the Company in Bengal.' The Mahrattas were then in possession of Delhi, and Clive had been urged by the young Emperor to advance upon that city and help him to recover it; but to all such suggestions he turned a deaf ear. He advised the Emperor to reside within the Company's territory, and refused to assist him in any enterprise beyond its limits. A few years before-indeed, up to the time of his last return to India-he had held different views; but the state of corruption in the civil service which he discovered on his return satisfied him that the three Provinces which had been made over to the Company would fully tax the capacity of the agency which was likely to be available. As to the reinstatement of the Emperor at Delhi, he was deterred by other considerations. Clive had formed a very poor opinion of the Emperor's capacity and also of his honesty. He discovered at a very critical time, to which reference will be made presently, that a threatened invasion by the Mahrattas had been projected at the instance of the Emperor, although the latter was then in close alliance with the Company. CHAPTER XIV OFFICIAL SALARIES AND PRIVATE TRADE-LORD CORNWALLIS'S VIEWS-DISCONTENT IN THE CIVIL DOUBLE SERVICE- SUPPRESSION OF THE MUTINY-COURT OF DIREC- COLLEAGUES. CLIVE's stay in India on this occasion was destined to be short, but there were two important questions with which he was compelled to deal before he could think of retiring, viz., the state of the civil service and the discontent, bordering upon mutiny, among the English officers of the Bengal army. We have seen what evils had resulted from allowing the civil servants of the Company to carry on trade on their own account, and how, by the abuses connected with this permission, they had driven Kásim Ali into a war which, had it not been for the ability and gallantry of some of the chief military officers in the service, might have put an end to the L existence of the Company, and with it to British rule in India. The main cause of these evils was the inadequacy of the salaries allowed to the civil servants. The salary of a member of Council was only £300 a year-an income upon which it was impossible for him to live, still more impossible for him to save anything for the future. The salaries of servants of the lower grades were still smaller. To meet the difficulty the Court of Directors had permitted their servants to add to their incomes by embarking in private trade, and had tacitly acquiesced in their receiving large presents from the natives. It was a long time before the Court could be brought to see that the only suitable remedy lay in a large augmentation of salaries, accompanied by an absolute prohibition of private trade. This was the remedy which Clive and his Committee urged upon the Court, but that body absolutely refused to sanction it. They were still traders, unable to realise their duties and responsibilities as the rulers of what was destined to be a great Empire. It was not until more than a quarter of a century had elapsed, that in 1792, after the first capture of Seringapatam and the acquisition of the large territory in the south of India which that capture brought with it, they were induced by an urgent representation addressed to them by the Marquis of Cornwallis to sanction the measure which had in vain been propounded by Clive. The following were Lord Cornwallis's words : |