rendered conspicuous service to the State, Majors Calliaud and
Knox. During the very month in which Clive had quitted Calcutta,
these officers had marched with such English troops and sipahis as
were available, to assist in the repelling of an invasion made by the
titular King of Delhi, prompted, it was believed, by Miran, and had
repulsed, with great loss to the enemy, an attempt made to storm the
city of Patna. Vansittart, who knew Calliaud well alike as a friend
and as a man trusted by Clive, summoned him to attend the Council
upon the deliberations of which the future of Bengal depended. The
discussions were long and somewhat heated. The party in the Council
which represented most accurately the opinions of Clive, as rendered
in his letter to Mr. Pitt, already referred to,[2] was of opinion
that whilst Mir Jafar should be allowed to reign during the remainder
of his life, opportunity should be taken of his death to transfer the
direct {152}administration to the English. If this opportunity had
been taken to carry out some such policy it is probable that the
evils which followed would have been avoided.

[Footnote 2: Clive's letter had been written during the life of
Miran. After detailing his character and the growing infirmities of
Mir Jafar, he had added: 'so small a body as 2000 Europeans will
secure us against any apprehensions from either the one or the other;
and, in case of their daring to be troublesome, enable the Company to
take the sovereignty upon themselves.']

The discussions were still proceeding when there arrived an envoy
from the Subahdar, his son-in-law, Mir Muhammad Kasim, a man of
ability, tact, great persuasive powers, no scruple, and, in a certain
sense, a patriot. Mir Kasim had coveted the succession vacant by the
death of Miran. He had divined the plans of the English; he hated
them as the enemies of the race of conquerors who had ruled Bengal
and its people for centuries. He despised them as venal: and he had
resolved to use them for his own advantage. He had brought with him a
bag full of promises, and, though nominally the representative of Mir
Jafar, had come resolved to work for his own interests.

Admitted into the secret deliberations of the Council, Mir Kasim soon
realized that, with the single exception of Major Calliaud, he could
buy them all. Even the scrupulousness of Mr. Vansittart vanished
before his golden arguments. He bought them. For certain specified
sums of money to b