A more critical situation than that in which Clive was placed by the arrival of the Dutch armament can hardly be conceived. The responsibility he took upon himself, in determining to oppose it, was great; but his mind never faltered when the public welfare was to be promoted by his personal hazard. When some of his friends remonstrated with him on the danger which he incurred, in opposing, during the existence of peace, the passage of the armament of a friendly power up the Ganges, he is said to have answered, that "a public man may occasionally be called upon to act with a halter round his neck." The inadequacy of his means was to him the most appalling circumstance; but this was remedied by the wisdom of his plans, and the vigour of their execution. The moderation he showed after victory was calculated to allay, as far as possible, that feeling of hostility which these proceedings must have excited. A very minute investigation of the whole subject took place in Europe: but the Dutch Local Government, in the treaty into which they entered with the English, had acknowledged themselves the aggressors, and Clive had been so cautious in every step he took, that his conduct could not be impugned; and he received, as he merited, unqualified approbation for this last act of his government, which terminated, as it was meant to do, all attempts of the Dutch to rival the political power of the English in Bengal. Their views in that country were thenceforward limited to objects of commerce. By the events (A. D. 1759) narrated in the preceding chapter, Mahommed Ali Khan, whom the Government of Fort St. George had so long supported, became the undisputed Nabob of the Carnatic. Salabut Jung, the Soubahdar of the Deckan, had entered into an alliance with the Company; and his brother Nizam Ali, who was rising rapidly into power, was most favourably disposed to cultivate their friendship.