8.1.12 to 8.1.14

In 1764 opinion within the company turned in Clive's favour because of the news from India. Clive's prot�g� Mir Ja'far had been deposed in favour of Mir Qasim, who in turn had been deposed in 1763. Shah 'Alam II, the Mughal emperor, attacked again, and the company seemed to be on the brink of disaster. Clive was appointed governor and commander in chief of Bengal with power to override the council. Arriving in Calcutta for the second time on May 3, 1765, he found that the decisive Battle of Baksar (Buxar) had already been won; Shuja'-ud-Dawlah, the nawab of Oudh, was in flight, and the Emperor had joined the British camp. But there was a political and military vacuum between Bengal and Delhi (the Mughal capital), and the whole Bengal administration was in confusion. Clive's administrative achievements. Clive's chief claim to fame as a statesman rests upon the achievements of his second governorship. His work falls into three parts: external policy, the settlement of Bengal, and the reform of the company's service. In his external policy Clive had to face one of the most difficult tests of statesmanship: that of knowing where to stop. Though there was nothing to prevent him from restoring Shah 'Alam II to Delhi and ruling north India in his name, he wisely decided to limit the company's commitments to Bengal and Bihar. Oudh was returned to Shuja'-ud-Dawlah a buffer state between Bengal and the turbulent northwest. The Emperor was solaced with an annual tribute, and in return he conferred the revenue administration (dewanee) of Bengal on the East India Company. This grant formed the key to Clive's second achievement, the settlement of Bengal. It gave legal authority to the company to collect the revenues of Bengal and Bihar, sending the Emperor only his annual tribute. The administration of the dewanee was organized through a deputy nawab appointed by the company. The police and magisterial power was still exercised by the nawab of Bengal as the Emperor's deputy, but he in turn nominated the company's deputy to act for him. This was Clive's so-called dual system, which made the company the virtual ruler of India's two richest provinces.