chair at the India House. Clive carried his point, and another person was appointed to the chair. The matter in which Sulivan's hostility towards Clive had been mainly shown was connected with the jaghir which had been bestowed upon Clive by Mir Jaffier. This grant the directors, at the instance of Sulivan, proposed to disallow, and sent orders to Bengal to that effect. Ultimately the question was compromised by Clive accept- ing a limitation to ten years of the period for which the payment was to continue. Another point of difference between Clive and Sulivan had reference to the claims of military officers who had served under Clive. Here also Clive was victorious and his recommendations were acted on.
The reappointment of Clive to the government of Bengal was rendered necessary by the misgovernment which had taken place under his successors. Mir Jaffier had been displaced in favour of his minister and son-in-law, Mir Kasim, and the latter in his turn, after having been goaded by the extortions of the Calcutta civilians to make war against the company, had been expelled from Bengal. Mir Jaffier, then in a state of senile imbecility, had been restored. Every ship brought to England intelligence of grave irregularities, of venality and corruption, and of the disorganisation of trade owing to the rapacity of the members of the Calcutta council. A terrible massacre of Europeans, described by Macaulay as surpassing that of the Black Hole, had taken place at Patna. Battles had been fought at Gheriah, Adwanalla, and Buxar, in the first of which the sepoys of Mir Kasim, trained on the European system, had fought so well that the issue was for a time doubtful [see Adams, Thomas, 1730?-1764]. 'Rapacity, luxury, and the spirit of insubordination had spread from the civil service to the officers of the army, and from the officers to the soldiers. The evil continued to grow till every mess-room became the seat of conspiracy and cabal, and till the sepoys could be kept in order only by wholesale executions' (Macaulay, Essay on Clive). It was in these circumstances that a general cry arose, urged by the proprietors of East India stock, but at first resisted by the court, that Clive, as the only man qualified to deal with the crisis, should be induced to return to Bengal. Clive responded to the call, and, leaving England in the autumn of 1764, resumed the government on 3 May in the following year. He found the military situation improved, the defeat at Buxar of the nawab of Oudh having broken the power of the only formidable foe of the company in that part of India, while the insubordination of the army had been quelled for the time. But in all other respects the difficulties with which Clive had ; to contend exceeded his previous expectations. While he was on his voyage out Mir Jaffier had died, and his second son, Najam ud Dowlah, an effeminate youth utterly unfit for the position, had been placed on the masnad. In direct opposition to the recent and positive orders of the court, that their servants should not receive presents from the native princes, the governor and certain members of the council had exacted from the young prince on his accession sums amounting to twenty lakhs of rupees. The court, at Clive's request, before his departure from England had appointed a small select committee, composed of persons in whom he had confidence, and to whom, in conjunction with him, the real authority was to be entrusted. The existing council, however, had not been abolished, and some of the members at once called in question the powers of the select committee ; but Clive, by his firmness, overbore all opposition. The most factious of his opponents he removed from office, and brought up civilians from Madras to assist him in carrying on the administration. He then proceeded to effect the reforms which were necessary to secure honest and efficient government. The private trade of civil servants was suppressed. The orders prohibiting the receipt of presents from natives were enforced, and the salaries of the civil servants, at that time absurdly low, were placed for a time upon a proper footing by appropriating to that purpose the profits of a monopoly for the sale of salt. But the most serious of the difficulties with which Clive had to deal was a mutinous conspiracy among the English officers of the army. Recent orders from home had provided for certain reductions in the allowances to the officers. The spirit of insubordination, partially suppressed, still existed, and a large body of officers determined to prevent the enforcement of the obnoxious orders by simultaneously resigning their commissions. Clive was equal to the situation. Finding that he had a few officers upon whom he could rely, he sent to Madras for more, gave commissions to mercantile men who were prepared to support him, and ordered all the officers who had resigned their commissions to be sent to Calcutta. Clive's firmness prevailed. The sepoys stood by him. The ringleaders were tried and cashiered. The rest of the conspirators asked to be allowed to withdraw their resignations, and discipline was restored. While thus reforming the civil service and restoring the disci-
