t
the money was there--practically to be disposed of as he might
direct. He resolved, with the approval of his Council, to constitute
with it a fund for the relief of the officers and men of the
Company's army who might be disabled by wounds or by the climate.
Thus was formed the institution which, under the title of 'Lord
Clive's Fund,' served to bring help and consolation to many poor and
deserving servants of the Company for nearly a century. By a strange
freak of fortune this fund reverted, in 1858, on the transfer of
India to the Crown, to the descendants of the very man who could not,
or believed he could not, accept it, when bequeathed to him, for
himself.

{179}Whilst dealing with the internal administration of the country,
and arranging for the protection of its frontier, Clive had not been
unmindful of the other duty strongly impressed upon him by the Court
of Directors, that of examining the pay and allowances of their
military officers, with special reference to an allowance known as
Batta. Batta, in a military sense, represented the extra sum or
allowance granted to soldiers when on field duty. Practically it had
been granted on the following principle. Officers had been allowed a
fixed monthly pay and allowances, not including batta, when they were
serving in garrison. When they took the field they drew an extra sum
as batta, known as full batta; but when they were detached to an
out-station, not being actually in the field, they drew only half
that amount, which was called half-batta. After the battle of
Plassey, Mir Jafar, in the profusion of his gratitude, had bestowed
upon the officers an additional sum equal to full batta. This was
called 'double batta,' and as long as the army was in the field,
fighting for the interests of that chief, he continued, with the
sanction of the Council of Calcutta, to disburse that allowance. Mir
Kasim, on his succession, had expressed his intention to continue
this payment, and had assigned to the Company, for that purpose
amongst others, the revenues of three districts. But the Court of
Directors, not fully realizing that the transaction with Mir Kasim
was one eminently advantageous to themselves, and forgetting that the
receipt of the revenues of the three provinces {180}was accompanied
by an obligation, chose to forget the latter point, and accepting the
revenues, issued peremptory orders to discontinue the disbursement of
double batta. This order seemed so unjust