anquil.
But it might become at any moment the reverse. Therefore it was that
Clive had recommended as his successor a man whom he believed he had
sounded to the core, and in whom he had found one after his own
heart. But there is no proverb more true than that contained in the
criticism passed by Tacitus on Galba, 'Omnium consensu capax imperii,
nisi imperasset.' We shall see presently how the conduct of
Vansittart corresponded to this aphorism.

A little more than a year before quitting the shores of Bengal, Clive
had addressed to Mr. Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, then Secretary of
State, a letter (January 7, 1759) in which he had represented the
difficulties of the actual situation, and had suggested a mode of
dealing with them. He had described the actual Subahdar as a man
attached to the English, and as likely to continue that attachment
'while he has no other support,' but totally uninfluenced by feelings
of gratitude, feelings not common to his race. On the other hand, he
was advanced in years; his son, Miran, was utterly unworthy, so
unworthy 'that it will be almost unsafe trusting him with the
succession.' He added immediately, as though prescient of the events
{140}which were to follow, 'In case of their,' the native princes,
'daring to be troublesome,' they--a body of 2000 English soldiers--
would 'enable the Company to take the sovereignty upon themselves.'
After detailing how the transfer would be easy, and palatable, rather
than otherwise, to the natives generally, Clive proceeded to
represent that so large a sovereignty might possibly be an object too
extensive for a mercantile company, and to suggest that it might be
worthy of consideration whether the Crown should not take the matter
in hand. The points he urged were the following: First, the ease with
which the English 'could take absolute possession of these rich
kingdoms, and that with the Mughal's own consent, on condition of
paying him less than a fifth of the revenues thereof.' There would
remain a surplus of two millions, besides most valuable productions
of nature and art. He dwelt, secondly, on the influence in Europe
which would thereby accrue to England, and the enormous increase of
prestige and of the advantages which prestige conveys, on the spot.
He added that a small force of European troops would be sufficient,
as he could enlist any number of sipahis, who 'will very readily
enter our service.' This letter he transmitted by the hands of