tend to their possessions in
India. Clive wrote therefore to {144}Lord Bute suggesting the terms
upon which, in his opinion, it was absolutely necessary for the
safety of the East India Company he should insist. Prominent among
these were (1) the absolute limitation of the number of troops the
French might retain in Southern India, and (2) a prohibition to admit
into Bengal Frenchmen other than those engaged in commercial
enterprises. Lord Bute so far followed the advice as to induce the
French to agree not to maintain troops either in Bengal or the
Northern Sirkars. But when he would go further, and, on the
suggestion of Mr. Lawrence Sulivan, Chairman of the Court of
Directors, make the recognition of certain native princes a clause in
the projected treaty between the two Powers, Clive, with his habitual
prescience, denounced the clause as fraught with consequences most
disastrous to the position of England in India, and persuaded the
Minister to withdraw it.

The gentleman above referred to, Mr. Lawrence Sulivan, had become,
from pure motives of jealousy, one of the bitterest enemies of Clive.
Sulivan had served in India without distinction, but had succeeded in
amassing there a handsome fortune, and being a man of bold address
and pushing manners, had become a Director of the Company. Whilst
Clive was still in India Sulivan had professed the most unbounded
admiration for him and his achievements, and, by thus professing, had
obtained the support of the followers of Clive when he made a bid for
the Chairmanship of the Court. This he secured, and, being a man
{145}of considerable self-assertion and determination, succeeded in
becoming the dictator of the Council. Up to that time he had given
his support to Clive, but no sooner did he hear of the departure of
his hero for England, than, dreading the effect of his arrival upon
his own influence, he had become his most bitter opponent. He it was
who stimulated his colleagues to object to the donation of the jagir
to Clive, mentioned in a previous page. The grounds to the objection
were rather hinted at than expressed, for in those days the Court
could not deny the right of the Subahdar to bestow, or of Clive to
accept, so handsome a gift. The real motive was to exclude Clive from
a seat in the India House, and for a time Sulivan succeeded.

The hostility of Sulivan found an outcome in the progress of
political affairs. Clive had voted against the Peace of Paris
(Februa