aders; to arrest those who
appeared most dangerous; and above all to secure the obedience of the
sepoys and native commanders. He also gave commissions to several young
men in the mercantile service; and when informed that a large sum of
money was subscribed for the mutinous officers by gentlemen at Calcutta,
in the civil service, he requested the council to take immediate steps
for discovering and punishing those gentlemen. Having taken these
preliminary steps, Clive quitted Moorshedabad, where he had been
arranging matters of trade and finance, and fearlessly advanced with a
small escort to Monghir, the scene of the mutiny. Before his arrival,
the council had resolved that all resignations tendered should be
accepted, and the officers tendering them immediately sent down to
Calcutta. Clive was the more incensed against them because he had
recently given up L70,000 to form a fund for their invalids and widows;
a gift which showed him to be their friend. He arrived at Monghir full
of wrath against them, and having secured the attachment of the
sepoys, by ordering them double pay for two months, in a short time the
ringleaders were all arrested, tried, and cashiered. In the first heat
of his passion he had threatened to have them all shot, but as legal
doubts were entertained as to the powers granted by the Mutiny Act for
the company's service, not one was sentenced to death. After they had
been cashiered, nearly all who had joined in the conspiracy, begged with
tears in their eyes, to be permitted to re-enter the service, and some
were restored on condition of signing a contract to serve the company
on its own terms for three years, and to give a year's notice of any
intention to quit the service. The young officers were treated with
great lenity, and when his indignation was cooled and the danger over,
he scorned to take any revenge for personal wrongs and insults. The main
cause of the mutiny was the gambling and dissipation which prevailed
among the English officers, and Clive adopted several wise regulations
to check these evils, and to restore the strictest discipline and
subordination.

Lord Clive having completed his work of reformation, and restored peace
to India, in January, 1767, left Calcutta for England. On accepting his
commission he had declared that he wanted no more money, and that all he
wished for was a thorough reform; which in the end would prove equally
beneficial to the oppressed and the oppressor