t arise from
venality and corruption. He might have added that the spoils of
Plassey had created a state of society in which those vices were
prominent; that the saltpetre monopoly, with the duties and
exemptions which had followed its acquisition, had confirmed them.
The Subahdar himself recognized the new danger which would follow the
departure of Clive. In his mind he was the moderator who, satisfied
himself, would have stayed the hands of others. To quiet the
newcomers there would be fresh rapacity, more stringent despoilings.
He felt, to use the expression of the period when Clive quitted
Bengal, that 'the soul was departing from the body.'

Clive made over charge to Mr. Holwell, of Black {137}Hole notoriety,
pending the arrival of Mr. Vansittart, the 15th of February, 1760.
With the sanction of the Court he had nominated Major Calliaud to be
Commander of the Forces. Four members of his Council retired about
the same time as himself.

{138}

CHAPTER XI
THE SECOND VISIT OF CLIVE TO ENGLAND

During his administration of four years in Bengal Clive had been
greatly hampered by the contradictory orders he had received from the
Court of Directors. In that Court there were four parties: the party
of alarmists at the aggrandizement of the Company's possessions in
India; the party of progressists; the middle party, composed of men
who would retain all that had been conquered, but who, not
understanding the necessity which often compels a conqueror to
advance that he may retain, would on no account sanction the
proceeding of a step further; a fourth party bent only on acquiring
plunder. As one or other of these parties obtained preponderance in
the Court, so did the orders transmitted to India take their colour.
In those days, it must be remembered, there was no Board of Control
to regulate and, if necessary, to modify, even entirely to alter, the
rulings of the General Court. Thus it was that the agent on the spot,
finding the orders from England constantly changing, was driven to
rely upon his own judgement, and to act on his own responsibility.
This did not signify so much so long as there was, on the spot,
{139}holding supreme authority, a Clive or a Warren Hastings. But
when the local chief authority was in the hands of men wanting alike
in intellect, in high principle, and in nerve, the situation was
likely to become dangerous in the extreme.

For the moment, when Clive quitted India, the situation was tr