I find, among the MSS. in my possession, a short narrative of the progress of this transaction, which presents, in a very compressed form, a series of facts, a knowledge of which is quite essential to the clear understanding of this question; I shall therefore give them in the words of the writer.[176] "By the ninth article of the treaty between the Company and Meer Jaffier, at the time of the revolution in 1757, certain lands to the south of Calcutta were ceded to the Company as perpetual renters, the Nabob reserving to himself the lordship and quit-rents, which amounted to near 30,000_l._ yearly; and the Company could never be legally dispossessed so long as they continued to pay that quit-rent. The Company farmed out these ceded lands for above 100,000_l._ a year, and paid the quit-rent regularly to the Nabob till the year 1759, when the Nabob, in consideration of the great services rendered him by Lord Clive, assigned over to his Lordship, for life, that quit-rent. The assignment passed through all the forms usual in the country; and Lord Clive became grantee of the rent, under the same authority, precisely, as the East India Company had become grantee of the lands. From this period the rent was duly paid to Lord Clive, instead of to the Nabob; nor was there any intermission of the payment until differences arose between the noble Lord and Mr. Sulivan. It was intimated to his Lordship that some scruples were entertained concerning any further payment; and Mr. Sulivan himself, at last informed him, that the Court of Directors were of opinion it ought to be retained for the Company's use. Lord Clive replied, that he was entitled to it as well by the laws of England as by the laws of India; that his right to the reserved rent was established upon the same authority as the Company's right to the ceded lands; that he was, notwithstanding, ready to concur in its devolving to the Company after he should have enjoyed the possession of it a reasonable number of years; and that he was desirous of a conference with the Court of Directors upon the subject, any day they might be pleased to appoint. "It might have been imagined that the Court of Directors, if they had no other objects upon this occasion than the honour and interest of the Company and justice to an individual, would have paid some attention to an acquiescence of this nature. But their resolution, under the influence of their leader, was to resent the offence given them by the noble Lord in the attempt he was meditating against their power; and this was to be done, not by entering into the discussion of any terms of accommodation, in which each party, contending for the right above mentioned, might have met, but by putting an immediate stop to the payment of the jaghire, and leaving upon his Lordship the difficulties and vexation of recovering his property by a suit at law.