he desired for
showing publicly the bent of the line of conduct he intended to
pursue.

Four months before his return, Mir Jafar, worn out by anxiety and
trouble, had passed away. His position had become degraded, even in
his own eyes. From having been, as he was on the morrow of Plassey,
the lord of three rich provinces, he had become, to use the words of
a contemporary Englishman,[2] 'a banker for the Company's servants,
who could draw upon him as often and to as great an amount as they
pleased.'

[Footnote 2: Mr. Scrafton. See Scrafton's _Letters_.]

We have seen how the members of Council had benefited pecuniarily by
the elevation of Mir Jafar to the _masnad_ in 1757; by that of his
successor in 1763; by Mir Jafar's re-elevation the same year. The
opportunity of again selecting a successor was not to be passed over
without their once again plunging their hands in the treasury of
Murshidabad. They found that there were two candidates for the vacant
office, the son of Miran, and therefore grandson of Mir Jafar, and
the eldest surviving son of that {161}Nawab. The decision arrived at
by the Council, then reduced by vacancies to eight members, was to
sell the succession to the candidate who should bid the highest price
for it. They decided in favour of the son of Mir Jafar, for, although
illegitimate, he was of an age at which he could act on his own
authority; the other was a minor, whose revenues would have to be
accounted for. In return for their complaisance, it was agreed that
they should receive a sum of money, to be divided as they might
arrange, close upon ten lakhs of rupees; in addition, there was to be
paid another sum, just over ten lakhs, for secret services rendered
by one of their number, Mr. Gideon Johnstone, and by a Muhammadan,
Muhammad Riza Khan, who also, in pursuance of the arrangement, was
nominated Deputy-Nawab. This shameful bargain was signed, sealed, and
delivered on the 25th of February, little more than two months before
Lord Clive landed.

An order from the India Office, which reached Calcutta just thirteen
days before the death of Mir Jafar, and which prohibited--by a new
covenant, to be signed by all the Civil Servants in India--the
acceptance by such servants of presents of any kind from the natives
of India, greatly strengthened the hands of Clive in dealing with
this transaction. Finding that in the Council itself he would be
subjected to much cavilling, he at once superseded its