with the Dutch, who had a factory at
Chinsurah. The authorities of this place sent earnest letters to their
countrymen in Batavia, urging them to take this opportunity of
raising a rival power to the English in India, and their advice was
taken. Seven large ships from Java, having on board 1,500 troops,
appeared unexpectedly in the Hoogly. Though England was at peace with
Holland, Clive resolved to attack them without delay. The ships were
taken and the army routed. Chinsurah was invested by the conquerors,
and was only spared on the condition that no fortifications should be
built, and no soldiers raised, beyond those that were necessary for
the police of the factories.

Three months afterward he returned to England, where he was received
with a profusion of honors; he was raised to the Irish peerage, and
promised an English title. George III., who had just ascended the
throne, received him with marked distinction, and the leading
statesmen of the day vied with each other in showing him attention. By
judicious purchases of land he was enabled to acquire great
parliamentary influence, and by large purchases of India stock he was
enabled to form a strong party in the Court of Proprietors. The value
of such support was soon shown; the Court of Directors, instigated by
Mr. Sullivan, the personal enemy of Lord Clive, withheld the rent of
the jaghire that he had received from Meer Jaffier, and it was
necessary to institute a suit in chancery to enforce payment.

But Clive's greatest strength was derived from the misconduct of his
successors in the government of Bengal. "Rapacity, luxury, and the
spirit of insubordination," says a late writer, "spread from the civil
service to the officers of the army, and from the officers to the
soldiers. The evil continued to grow till every messroom became the
seat of conspiracy and cabal, and till the Sepoys could only be kept
in order by wholesale executions." Individuals were enriched, but the
public treasury was empty, and the government had to face the dangers
of disordered finances, when there was war on the frontiers and
disaffection in the army. Under these circumstances it was generally
felt that Clive alone could save the empire which he had founded.

Lord Clive felt the strength of his position. He refused to go to
India so long as his enemies had preponderating power in the Court of
Directors; an overwhelming majority of the proprietors seconded his
wishes, and the Sulliva