ration
of the civil districts and divisions by the Company's officers had
been as faulty and corrupt as it well could be. The case, after
examination and report, was tersely put by the Court of Directors in
their summary of the state of Bengal on his arrival there. They
described the three provinces, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, as 'a
_subah_'[4] disarmed, with {167}a revenue of almost two millions
sterling, at the mercy of our servants, who had adopted an unheard-of
ruinous principle, of an interest distinct from that of the Company.
This principle showed itself in laying their hands upon everything
they did not deem the Company's property. To reform the abuses so
described Clive invoked the assistance of those who ought to have
been immediately concerned in the introduction of juster
administration. He invited the young Nawab and his councillors to
Calcutta, and held with them long conferences. The disclosures which
followed more than confirmed the worst fears he had entertained
regarding the all but universal corruption of the members of the
Civil Service. It was in consequence of these disclosures that he
compelled the retirement from the Council, as he had found it
composed on his arrival, of five of its members, and suspended the
remaining three. He filled up the vacancies thus caused by indenting
on Madras for a sufficient number of civilians to raise the total
number of councillors to twelve.

[Footnote 4: The word 'Subah' is used here to mean one of the large
divisions of the Mughal empire.]

These sweeping reforms produced their natural effect. Clive became
hated. The civilians and their friends and accomplices acted
according as their natures were dominated by fear or by love of
revenge. Of the former, one, greatly inculpated, the chief agent of
Patna, committed suicide. Of the latter, many formed amongst
themselves an association, of which the following were some of the
principal articles:--'all visits to the Governor were forbidden; no
{168}invitations from him or from the members of the Select Committee
were to be accepted; the gentlemen coming from Madras were to be
treated with neglect and contempt; every member who should deviate
from these rules would be denounced and avoided.' At a later period
their hostility indicated itself in a more serious manner.

Of the young Subahdar Clive formed but a poor opinion. He seemed to
him a nullity. The one man of ability about him, the minister
Muhammad Riza Kha