Lord Clive received his appointment[184] within a month of the general election; and the Directors hurried their preparations for his departure, from a desire that he should leave England before that took place; conceiving, no doubt, that his doing so would evince a confidence in their support, and prevent that opposition which several of them expected, on the ground of their known hostility to the popular Governor. A letter was, in consequence, written to Lord Clive by the Secretary, informing him that a ship was ready to receive him. He replied, that, for reasons he had assigned at the General Court, he could not think of embarking, till he knew the result of the election of Directors, which was to take place in the ensuing month. The Directors, when they received this answer, declared that they considered it as a resignation of the government. They therefore summoned a General Court, at which one of the proprietors in their interest moved, that, as Lord Clive declined the government of Bengal, they should proceed to a new nomination; but his Lordship's declaration at the late Court had made too deep an impression to be easily erased. The proprietors saw nothing in his conduct but manly consistency with the sentiments he had before so decidedly avowed; and, on the other hand, viewing the conduct of the Directors as an unworthy artifice to evade compliance with their wishes, they threw out the proposition with violence and clamour. On the 25th of April, 1764, a very warm contest took place. Mr. Sulivan brought forward one list of twenty-three Directors; and Mr. Rous (who was supported by Clive) produced another. Notwithstanding his friend, Lord Bute, was no longer minister, Mr. Sulivan succeeded in bringing in half his numbers; but we cannot have a stronger proof of the degree in which the attack of Lord Clive had shaken the power of this lately popular Director, than the fact that his own election was only carried by one vote. In the subsequent contest for the chair, Mr. Rous succeeded; and Mr. Bolton, who was also of Clive's party, was nominated his Deputy. Soon after the election of the Directors, the Court took the subject of the settlement of Lord Clive's jaghire into consideration; and a proposition, made by himself, was agreed to[185], confirming his right for ten years, if he lived so long, and provided the Company continued, during that period, in possession of the lands from which the revenue was paid.