tly to be
related, was not worth living. The commercial concessions which Clive
had forced from him gave the English an _imperium in imperio_. But
the Subahdar was in the toils. When invasion came from the north he
tried his utmost to avoid asking for the aid of Clive. But Clive,
who had sent his best soldiers to conquer the Northern Sirkars,
and to establish permanent relations with the Subahdar of the
Deccan--relations which secured to England a permanent predominance
in the most important districts of southern India--was indispensable.
His assistance, given in a manner which could not fail to impress the
natives of India--for the enemy fled at his approach--riveted the
{134}chains on the Subahdar. Then came the invasion of the Dutch. For
the first time a superior hostile force of Europeans landed on the
shores of British India. The Subahdar, anxious above all things to
recover his freedom of action, promised them his assistance. Clive
shone out here, more magnificently than he had shone before, as the
undaunted hero. Disdaining to notice the action of the Subahdar, he
gave all his attention to the European invaders; with far inferior
means he baffled their schemes; and crushed them in a manner such as
would make them, and did make them, remember and repent the audacity
which had allowed them to imagine that they could impose their will
on the victor of Kaveripak and Plassey. He had made the provinces he
had conquered secure, if only the rule which was to follow his own
should be based on justice, against the native rulers; secure for
ever against European rivals assailing it from the sea.

[Footnote 15: Siraj-ud-daula had given instructions that the
prisoners should be safely cared for, and had then gone to sleep. It
was the brutality of his subordinate officers which caused the
catastrophe.]

That, during this period, he had committed faults, is only to say
that he was human. But, unfortunately, some of his faults were so
grave as to cast a lasting stain on a career in many respects worthy
of the highest admiration. The forging of the name of Admiral Watson,
although the name was attached to the deed with, it is believed, his
approval,[16] was a crime light in comparison with the purpose for
which it {135}was done--the deceiving of the Bengali, Aminchand. It
is true that Aminchand was a scoundrel, a blackmailer, a man who had
said: 'Pay me well, or I will betray your secrets.' But that was no
reason why Clive sho