ly Benares, Chanar, and Allahabad. In
March, 1765, the English overran Oudh, occupying Lucknow and
Faizabad; then went on to beat the enemy at Karra, and again at Kalpi
on the Jumna. Then the Nawab-Wazir, 'a hopeless wanderer,' threw
himself on the mercy of the conquerors. These behaved to him with
conspicuous generosity, repaid by his successors in late years. The
English frontier was, however, not the less advanced, practically, as
far as Allahabad. Such was the military position when Clive returned
to Calcutta as Governor in May, 1765.

{158}Meanwhile the English, on the outbreak of the war with Mir
Kasim, had restored Mir Jafar, receiving the usual gratuities for
themselves and stipulating for exemptions from all duties except two
and a half per cent. on salt. As for Mir Kasim, it is only necessary
to add that he died some years later at Delhi in extreme poverty.
With all his faults he was a patriot.

{159}

CHAPTER XIII
THE PURIFYING OF BENGAL

When Clive quitted England for Bengal (June 4, 1764) he knew only
that the war with Mir Kasim was raging, and that Mir Jafar had been
reinstated in his position. It was not until he reached Madras, the
10th of April following, that he learned that Mir Kasim had been
finally defeated, that his followers had submitted, that Mir Jafar
was dead, and that the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh had thrown himself on the
clemency of the English. In the interval of twenty-three days which
elapsed before his arrival in Calcutta (May 3), he had time, in
consultation with the two members of the Select Committee who
accompanied him, Messrs. Sykes and Sumner, to deliberate regarding
the course of action which it would behove him to adopt on his
arrival there.[1]

[Footnote 1: The other two were General Carnac and Mr. Verelst.]

One of his first acts on arrival was to remodel the army. He placed
General Carnac at its head, divided the European infantry into three
battalions, gave regimental commands to two officers who had
accompanied him from England, and regulated all the {160}superior
appointments in a manner the best adapted, in his opinion, to secure
efficiency.

He dealt likewise with the Civil Service. Nothing had impressed Clive
more than the evil effects of the predominance of venality and
corruption during the rule which had followed his first departure,
and he was resolved to put them down with a strong hand. He found, on
his landing, a subject which gave him the opportunity