e of the country, required his attention, and
he gave it without fear of the consequences. As long as the troops were
employed by Meer Jaffier and Meer Cossim, these potentates, in order to
cherish the goodwill of the officers, allowed them "double batta," or
double pay. The court of directors had long ago issued that "double
batta" should be abolished, but Vansittart and his council had listened
to the remonstrances of the army, and the order was left unregarded.
But Clive was a bolder man than Vansittart, and he resolved that "double
batta" should cease forthwith, except at Allahabad, where the troops
were considered as being actually in the field. An order was issued to
this effect, and the troops in Bengal were put upon the same footing as
the troops on the Coromandel Coast, by whom no batta was drawn, except
when actually marching or serving on the field of battle. The officers
remonstrated, but it was to no purpose: the order was given, and it must
be obeyed. On the appointed day the reduction took place, and, enraged
thereby, two hundred English officers engaged in a conspiracy, binding
themselves by an oath to secrecy, and to preserve, at the hazard of
their lives, the life of any comrade that might be condemned by a
court-martial. These officers, indeed, each bound themselves in a bond
of L500 to throw up their commissions, unless "double batta" were
restored; and finding that Clive was inexorable, they resigned. To
increase the danger this conspiracy was formed at a time when the
country was threatened with a new invasion by a Mahratta army. The
officers, doubtless, supposed that Clive would be frightened out of his
resolution, but they soon found that they had mistaken the force of his
character. On hearing of the conspiracy, he exclaimed, "Such a spirit
must, at all hazards, be suppressed at the birth," and he wrote to the
council, desiring them to write to Madras, in order that every officer
and cadet that could be spared from that presidency should be held
in readiness to embark for Bengal; and directing them to acquaint the
presidency of Fort St. George with the mutiny, and with the approach of
the Mahrattas. In his letter to the council he stated that the committee
at Calcutta must adopt a resolution, that no officer now resigning
should ever again hold a commission in the company's service. At the
same time, Clive sent directions to the commanding officers of all
the divisions to find, if possible, the le