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 ^'•'^0 HISTORY UF INDIA. [Book III.

/ A.D. 1758. venal. In go-anting titles on the occasion Clive had not been forgotten, for he

was informed tlirough the Seits that he had been created a muvJivJjddr of 0000 visitofriatn lior.se, under several pompous names. Ramnarain, as the army advanced, con-

Tiarain to _ j '

Clive. tinued taking mea.sures for liis defence. Clive s letter liaxl not yet reached him ; but as soon as he received it he gave proof of the full confidence which it inspired by complying with its invitation, and embarking in his boats on the Ganges to pay Clive a visit. He arrived on the 25th of January, and the next day proceeded, in company with Mr. Watts, to wait upon the nabob, who received him with all the honours due to his rank, yet not refraining from certain .slights indicative of his real feelings. So equivocal, indeed, was his conduct, that Clive's su.spicions were roused, and Ramnarain and Roydullub, who had previously been at variance, resolved to make common cause. Meer jaffier Matters Were in this unsatisfactory state when startlincr intelligence arrived.

alarmed. •' o o

The Nabob of Oude, it was said, had resumed his aggres.sive designs, and was about to advance from Lucknow, accompanied by a large body of Mahratta horse, and the European troops of M. Law who had been living under his protection at Allahabad. Meer Jaffier was filled with alarm, more especially after a Mahratta chief arrived to demand twenty-four lacs of rupees as the arrears of tribute due from Bengal. He was now as submissive as he had previou.sly been disposed to be insolent ; and in order to conciliate Clive, whose ser'ices had again become indispensable to him, he fulfilled the obligations which he had imdertaken in regard to Ramnarain, by formally confirming him in Ids office of deputy-governor of Behar. Clive was not slow to take advantage of the nabob's altered feelings, and requested for the Company a monopoly of all the saltpetre made witliin his dominions. The nabob made many objections, and ultimately consented with great reluctance. Tlie terms offered were indeed the highest at which the salt- petre monopoly had ever been farmed, but he knew that the stipulated rent was the utmost he could receive from the Company ; whereas in the case of a native renter, he had an unlimited power of exaction in the shape of presents. On obtaining this rather questionable monopoly, Clive proceeded to enforce another claim, the justice of which could not be denied. The stipulated monthly pay ot his troops in the nabob's service was a lac a month, and though nearly four months had already been consumed in the campaign, only two lacs had been received. The demand of the arrears, both under this head and others which had accumulated, in consequence of the difficulty of realizing anything from the tuncaws, was not arranged without difficulty, because the alarms fi'om Oude and the Mahrattas having died away, the nabob had returned to his tortuous pohcy, Ramnarain and was again intriguing for the removal of Ramnarain. Chve's sagacity and

allowed to ^. , . • p l •

retain his firmncss disconccrtcd his schemes, and Ramnarain remained in possession ot his

govemmen • jjgj^j^y^ wlule the wholc army returned by slow marches towards Moorshedabad.

Clive's opinion of Meer Jaffier had undergone considerable modification. His

first communications with him when the conspiracy was planned, had impressed