"Although Nundcomar may not prove guilty of the crimes laid to his charge, yet, believe me, my dear General, he will do no honour, either to the Nabob or to the Company, in any great or eminent post, which he never was formed or designed for; and I can give you unanswerable reasons against his being the principal person about the Nabob, when I have the pleasure of seeing you. I am as fully averse to Reza Ali Cawn's remaining in the great post of Naib Subah. His being a Mussulman, acute, and clever, are reasons of themselves, if there were no others, against trusting that man with too much power; and yet the young man must have men about him capable of directing and governing him; for besides his youth, he is really very simple, and always receives his impressions from those who are last about him. It is really shocking to see what a set of miserable and mean wretches Nundcomar has placed about him, men that the other day were horsekeepers. I proposed that three or four of the principal families in Bengal shall assist him in his government; and make no doubt of obtaining his own consent for adopting such a plan as may make him perfectly easy in his own mind, and do the English nation honour. "I hope fifteen or twenty days will enable me to put affairs in such a channel, that the gentlemen may go on with the reformation during my absence; and upon my arrival we must heartily set about a peace: for the expense is now become so enormous, (no less than 10 lacs per mensem, civil and military,) that the Company must be inevitably undone, if the Mahrattas, or any other powers, should invade Bahar and Bengal; for it will then be impossible to raise money sufficient to continue the war. This is a very serious consideration with me, and will, I make no doubt, strike you in the same light." Treating the same subject in a subsequent letter, Clive observes[264]:— "Strange discoveries have been made, which prove your conjectures about revolutions to be true. The enclosed will give you an idea of what is intended. The more I see of the Nabob, the more I am convinced of his incapacity for business: whether it proceeds from want of natural abilities, or want of education, time will discover; certain it is, the most difficult task we have is to act in such a manner as not to put too great a restraint upon the Nabob's inclinations, and yet, at the same time, influence him to do what is for his own honour, and the good of the Company. There is no submitting to be dictated to by every plaguy fellow about him." And again[265]:—