Clive remained only a few days at Moorshedabad. Soon after his arrival at Calcutta, a vessel[209] from England brought out the arrangements made by the Directors subsequently to their receiving the intelligence of their misfortunes in Bengal. The first measure, adopted in August, 1757, was the appointment of a temporary Committee of five, in which Clive was to preside. This was changed in November; and it was resolved to dismiss Mr. Drake, upon whose incompetency all appear to have been agreed; and a council of ten was nominated, the four senior members of which were to preside alternately, each for three months. In this second arrangement no mention whatever was made of Clive; and as the letter of August did not reach Bengal before that of November, he received at the same moment the account of his first appointment, and of the subsequent marked neglect of the Directors. But their last resolution was of little consequence, as circumstances rendered its execution impossible, except at the serious hazard of all the great advantages which had been obtained. This sentiment was universal; but by none was it felt so strongly as by the gentlemen appointed to the Council, and above all by those who were advanced by the Court of Directors to a share in the divided office of Governor. I shall spare the reader all comments upon this extraordinary expedient, which was no doubt the crude offspring of faction and mistrust. It is a more pleasing task to record the better feeling and better understanding of the true interests of their country which pervaded the councils of the local government. I am induced to insert the following letter to Clive from the new Council, not more from its containing an excellent summary of the reasons which led them to request he would fill the station of their President, than because I deem it alike honourable to their zeal and disinterestedness. "Sir, "Our most serious attention has been devoted to the commands of our honourable employers per Hardwicke, naming a rotation of Governors for the future management of their affairs at this settlement; and, having duly weighed the nature of this regulation with all its attending circumstances, a sincere conviction of its being, in our present situation and circumstances, repugnant to the true interest of our honourable masters, and the welfare of the settlement in general, obliges us (though with the utmost respect and deference) to believe, that had our employers been apprised of the present state of their affairs in this kingdom, they would have placed the presidentship in some one person, as the clearest and easiest method of conducting their concerns, as well as preserving and maintaining the weight and influence the late happy revolution has given us with the Soubah of these provinces; on which influence, at the present period, the interest and welfare of the Company depends in the highest degree, at this settlement.