owlah fled from the field on a camel, secured what wealth he
could, and came to an untimely end. Clive entered Murshidabad, and
established Jafar Ali in the position which his descendants have ever
since enjoyed, as pensioners, but have not infrequently abused. When
taken through the treasury, amid a million and a half sterling's worth
of rupees, gold and silver plate, jewels and rich goods, and besought to
ask what he would, Clive was content with L160,000, while half a million
was distributed among the army and navy, both in addition to gifts of
L24,000 to each member of the Company's committee, and besides the
public compensation stipulated for in the treaty. It was to this
occasion that he referred in his defence before the House of Commons,
when he declared that he marvelled at his moderation. He sought rather
to increase the shares of the fleet and the troops at his own expense,
as he had done at Gheria, and did more than once afterwards, with prize
of war. What he did take from the grateful nawab for himself was less
than the circumstances justified from an Oriental point of view, was far
less than was pressed upon him, not only by Jafar Ali, but by the
hundreds of native nobles whose gifts Clive steadily refused, and was
openly acknowledged from the first. He followed a usage fully recognized
by the Company, although the fruitful source of future evils which he
himself was again sent out to correct. The Company itself acquired a
revenue of L100,000 a year, and a contribution towards its losses and
military expenditure of a million and a half sterling. Such was Jafar
Ali's gratitude to Clive that he afterwards presented him with the
quit-rent of the Company's lands in and around Calcutta, amounting to an
annuity of L27,000 for life, and left him by will the sum of L70,000,
which Clive devoted to the army.

While busy with the civil administration, the conqueror of Plassey
continued to follow up his military success. He sent Major Coote in
pursuit of the French almost as far as Benares. He despatched Colonel
Forde to Vizagapatam and the northern districts of Madras, where that
officer gained the battle of Condore, pronounced by Broome "one of the
most brilliant actions on military record." He came into direct contact,
for the first time, with the Great Mogul himself, an event which
resulted in the most important consequences during the third period of
his career. Shah Alam, when _shahzada_, or heir-apparent, quarre