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20. Scrafton became Resident at the new Nawáb's court, with Hastings for his assistant. Later in the year, when Clive was made Governor of Fort William, Scrafton took his seat in the Calcutta Council, and Hastings filled Scrafton's place at Murshidábád.

It was a perilous position for so young a man. But Hastings bore a very good character, and circumstances had made him older than his years. It was no easy matter for an Englishman so placed to discharge with equal skill and uprightness the various duties which now fell to his lot. He had to look after the Company's trade at Kásimbázár, to press unwelcome advice upon the new Nawáb, to guard against the intrigues of rival ministers and nobles, to collect the revenue of the districts lately ceded to the Company, and to refer to Calcutta all questions of special intricacy or importance. In Clive himself he found a bold hard-headed counsellor and a loyal friend. When Clive went home in February, 1760, Vansittart presently came from Madras to fill his place; Holwell acting meanwhile as Governor.

By that time Mír Jafar had exhausted the patience of his English allies. The Calcutta Council resolved to dethrone a ruler whose affairs were in wild disorder, and whose dominions they had had to defend at their own cost against plundering Maráthás, rebel barons, and a large Mughal army led by Sháh Alam, the homeless young Emperor of Delhi. It was the Company's troops that rescued Patná, drove the Mu-