Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/719

 Chap. Xll.J OPPOSITION TO CLIVE. t585

The (qualification was then £500, and he employed £100,000 in this very (lis- a. d. ires, creditable manoeuvre. The other party, backed by the Bute ministry, to which Clive was opposed, were equally unscrupulous, and scenes of the most scandalous cuveand nature were exhibited. At the meetings ot tlie general courts oi proprietors a minority Clive's party had so decided a majority that he considered the victory as gained. ^t"india He had entirely miscalculated. Sullivan, supported by all the influence of "°"** government, and by the great body of proprietors, who had established an influ- ence with the existing directors, and were eagerly waiting for the fulfilment of promises which had been made to them, carried his list by a triumphant majority.

Clive, being thus defeated in a contest in which he ought never to have engaged, was not left long in doubt as to the course which his opi)onents meant to pursue. One of the first uses which they made of their victory was to transmit orders to the Bengal presidency to stop all further payments on account of Lord Clive's jaghire, and furnish an account of all the payments pre- viously made. There was much indecent haste and vindictiveness in this pro- His rigi.t t4) ceeding ; but what else was to be expected from the victors in a contest in which ,iiBi)ute.i. the combatants on both sides had from the first shown that they were not to be restrained by any ordinary scruples? Clive felt, or affected to feel astonishment at the harsh measure dealt out to him by the directors, and immediately took the only remedy which seemed open to him, by instituting a suit in Chancery. It would be painful to dwell on the proceedings, and fortunately it is not neces- sary, as the merits of the case were never judicially investigated, and it was taken out of court by a compromise. The intelligence of the massacre at Patna, of the violent dissensions in the council at Calcutta, and of the commencement of a war, of which it was impossible to foretell the issue, put a sudden end to all the petty squabblings among the directors, and was followed by a loud and general call for Clive's return to India. As he had founded the British empire there, so he was regarded as the only man capable of saving it from the destruc- tion with which it was threatened. Clive had it now in his power to make his own terms; and, tiiough he cannot be charged with taking an undue ad- vantage of his position, he certainly showed his determination not to yield a single point which he deemed of importance.

The first question which called for settlement was that of tlie jaghire. The general court of proprietors would at once have set it at rest, by deciding it entirely in his favour; but he thought it unbecoming to dispose of a grave (piestion of law by a resolution proposed and carried in a moment of excitement, and he therefore begged delay, that he might be able to submit a propo.sal which Discu-ssiun he trusted would lead to an amicable adjustment. The question of appointment reaj,poii,t was not settled without a keen and even doubtful contest. No fewer tlian four 'i"X*" general courts were held on the subject. The two first were principally occu- pied with preliminary matters. At the third the subject was brought formally