Meerum had been convinced by Mr. Scrafton, who was intimate with him, of the meanness of his suspicions, and the rashness of his conduct, and had asked pardon of Clive in the most submissive terms. Nevertheless, the news of his agitations had induced the Nabob to desist from his huntings, and his intention of passing the remainder of the Mahomedan lent at a famous durgar, or tomb, near Rajahmahal. He arrived in the city on the 30th of May; but Clive, little solicitous of an interview with him, had gone away on the 24th to Calcutta. Two thousand of the English Sepoys were sent thither, and the rest, with all the Europeans, remained at Cossimbuzar.
On the 20th of June arrived the Hardwick, one of the company's ships from England, with the arrangements that had been made in consequence of the news of the loss of Calcutta. The first advices of this event were received in London in the month of August of the preceding year, when the company appointed a temporary committee of five persons (in which Clive was to preside) to manage their affairs in Bengal; but in November they resolved to dismiss Mr. Drake from the government, and nominated a council of ten, in which the four senior members were to preside alternately, each for three months: in this succession of the four Mr. Watts stood the first; the others were Mr. Manningham, Mr. Beecher, and Mr. Holwell, who was not yet returned from England. The first resolution of August had been sent in another ship, which although dispatched before was not yet arrived; so that the first intelligence of it came in the Hardwick, with that of November. The novelty of this resolution subjected it to the imputation of absurdity: it was said that the powers of the country, accustomed to treat with one chief, would regard the alternate presidents of Calcutta with mockery instead of respect; but another cause operated on opinions more strongly. Colonel Clive had felt and expressed resentment at the neglect of himself in the company's orders, for no station was marked for him in the new establishment: much money remained due on the claims of the treaties; the Nabob might prove refractory if Clive should depart; and all concurred in thinking he would best defend what he had won, in case the French should make any attempt in the province.
