ur, the men gave way. The mutiny, as far as Mungir
was concerned, was over. Meanwhile the officers expelled by Fletcher
had encamped within a short distance of Mungir, resolved to wait
there the arrival of their comrades from other stations. But they had
to deal with a man who would stand no trifling. Clive despatched to
them an order to set out forthwith for Calcutta; and to quicken their
movements he sent a detachment of sipahis to see that his order was
obeyed. After that there was no more mutiny at Mungir, or in the
stations dependent upon it.

At Bankipur the officers, notwithstanding the action of Sir R.
Barker, previously noted, had sent their commissions _en bloc_ to
Lord Clive. But the news of the occurrences at Mungir startled and
frightened them. When, then, Lord Clive arrived at Patna, he found
the officers penitent and humble, and that his only task was to
pardon. There, too, he learned with pleasure the successful action of
the two Smiths at Allahabad and Surajpur. He remained then at Patna,
to crush the last embers of the mutiny, and to arrange {189}for the
bringing to justice of the ringleaders. This last task he performed
in a manner which tempered justice with mercy. Fletcher, who had
played a double part, and whose actions were prompted by personal
greed, was brought to a court-martial and cashiered. Five other
officers were deported, but of these, one, John Neville Parker, was
reinstated in 1769, and survived to render glorious service to the
Company, giving his life for his masters in 1781.

The comparative ease with which Clive suppressed this formidable
conspiracy was due to one cause alone. No sooner did Clive hear of
the combination than, instead of waiting to be attacked, he seized
the initiative: the mutineers allowed him to strike the first blow;
standing on the defensive in their isolated positions, they gave the
opportunity to Clive to destroy them in detail. It was the action
which Napoleon employed against the Austrians in 1796, 1805, and in
1809. It is useless to speculate what might have been the result if
Clive had stood, as the majority of men would have stood, on the
defensive. By the opposite course he not only saved the situation,
but achieving a very decisive victory, struck a blow at
insubordination which gave an altered tone to the officers of the
army, then as much hankering after ungodly pelf as were their
brethren in the Civil Service. Never, throughout his glorious career