"Such were the grounds upon which the right to the jaghire was contested; and we may judge how very futile they were, by the sentiments entertained of them by all the eminent lawyers of the time; for the Court of Directors consulted gentlemen of the first reputation in the profession. Among these were Mr. Yorke, the Attorney-general, and Sir Fletcher Norton, the Solicitor-general, the substance of whose opinions was, that it did not appear to be material to enter into such objections as might be made either by the Emperor of Hindustan or the successors of Meer Jaffier, to the form or substance of the grant of the lands to the Company, or of the reserved rent to Lord Clive; that they both claimed under the same granter, and that the East India Company could not raise an objection against the grant to Lord Clive, founded on the want of right and power in the Nabob, which would not impeach their own; that the question was to be considered, not upon the strict absolute words (according to the laws and constitution of the Moghul empire), but relatively as between the East India Company, the grantee of the lands from Meer Jaffier, and Lord Clive, the grantee of the same Nabob, of a rent issuing and reserved out of those lands when granted to the Company; that the question ought to be determined between his Lordship and the Company upon the same principles as the like question would be determined, arising between the owner of lands in England subject to a rent, and the grantee or assignee of that rent, in a case where both parties derived from the same original granter; that it was incumbent upon the Court of Directors, in this instance, to turn chancellors against themselves; and that it was for the honour of that great Company to act upon such principles, not only with foreign merchants, trading companies, and foreign states and sovereigns, but with their own servants. "Such was the opinion of the greatest lawyers. But the Court of Directors, actuated, it should seem, rather by a spirit of resentment than by principles of equity, although they could not hope for a decision in their favour, determined still to withhold the jaghire, and to protract the judgment of Chancery by such stratagems or delays as the forms of judicial proceedings might chance to furnish them with." Lord Clive complained (and apparently with great justice) of the mode in which this measure relating to his jaghire was to be carried into execution. The letter regarding it was sent to India without any intimation to him; and when, on hearing that the government of Bengal had been directed to stop all future payments to his agents, he applied to the Court of Directors for a copy of their proceedings in a case so deeply affecting his fortune and his reputation, they peremptorily refused compliance with his request.