From this and other facts we may collect that the desire to repel attack, on one hand, and the zeal and confidence of friends, on the other, hurried him into the contest in which he became engaged. His cause was warmly espoused by many noblemen and gentlemen of the first respectability. Almost all those who had served in India were of his party, and brought with them their friends and connections. These classes of proprietors were all-powerful at the quarterly meetings of the General Court; but when Directors were balloted for, the election was chiefly decided by persons in different walks of life, many of whom seldom, if ever, attended those Courts; but, having bought stock, either as a good investment of capital, or as the means of establishing an influence with the Directors, or with Administration, they gave their votes at elections as suited their respective interests. Mr. Sulivan had in his favour a great majority of the Directors, and he was actively supported by ministers; his strength was consequently great with this class of voters, and with persons employed in England by the Company, and the officers and dependents of Government. He numbered also, among his friends, many of the merchants and tradesmen in the city, and nearly the whole of the ship-owners and others connected with the trade to India. No election ever excited more interest than that now pending. Each party summoned all its forces; but Clive was destined to sustain his first defeat in a contest, in which we cannot but regret he should ever have engaged. His victorious opponents lost no time in making him feel the full weight of their resentment. It has been already stated that Clive received his jaghire in 1759: the grounds upon which it had been granted and accepted were, at that period, placed upon the records of Government. He had enjoyed it four years; receiving, annually, its amount from the Company. Immediately after his return to England an intimation was conveyed to him, by Mr. Sulivan, that the Secret Committee of the Directors desired to communicate with him regarding this grant. He expressed his willingness to meet them, and enter into any explanation; and, considering the jaghire only as a life-rent, he was disposed to meet any fair arrangement that could be suggested; but the subject had not been re-agitated. Three years had passed, and his revenue from this source was regularly paid by the Bengal Government to his agents in Calcutta. Under such circumstances, whatever he might have apprehended from the hostility of Mr. Sulivan, whom he had certainly provoked by an open and determined opposition, he could not but be astonished to hear that the first step the Directors took, after the election of 1763, was to transmit orders to the Bengal Government to stop all further payments on account of Lord Clive's jaghire, and to furnish them with an account of all sums which had been paid to that nobleman and his attornies since the date of the grant.