Alumgeer the Second was still the Emperor of Delhi; but he continued a prisoner in the hands of his ambitious minister, who, himself surrounded by Mahratta armies, and expecting another invasion of the Affghauns, exercised but a precarious authority. The Shah-Zada was still in a state of hostility; and having lately received countenance from the ruler of Oude, he again threatened with invasion the territories of Bahar. This danger would not appear to have been considered serious by Clive: but he was very uneasy regarding the internal state of Bengal; and the last months of his stay in India were devoted to arrangements for securing its tranquillity. The treasury of the Nabob had been exhausted by the great sums he had paid as the price of his elevation. His extravagance, that of his son, and, above all, the maintenance of large bodies of useless troops, aggravated his distress. The slave of habit, and devoid of energy, Meer Jaffier was incapable of remedying his condition, which became daily more embarrassing. The conduct of his son, also, alarmed him; and from his communications to Mr. Hastings, it evidently appeared that he sometimes thought the impatient ambition of Meeran would lead him to accelerate, by an act of violence, the hour of his succession. Yet, notwithstanding the urgent advice of Clive[82], he would neither diminish the troops of his son, nor cease to employ him in situations which were calculated to increase his influence, and add to his power. The Nabob disliked the superiority and influence of Clive, but he certainly was personally attached to him.[83] He regarded him with the same dread and apprehension which a wayward scholar bears his preceptor. Though he feared his anger, he had complete reliance on his justice and good faith, and from habit looked to him with hopes of every consideration that was possible for his errors and weakness. With such sentiments, he was alarmed at the near prospect of Clive's departure; and his feeling affords strong presumptive proof, that, into whatever intrigues or plots Jaffier had been hurried or led, he could not, at this period, have deliberately contemplated any plan of hostility against the English power. If he had harboured any such scheme, it is quite evident that Clive's quitting the scene was the only event that could give it the least prospect of success. The chief cause which alarmed Meer Jaffier and other natives of rank at the intended departure of Clive was the fear of his successor not exercising the same authority in checking and controlling the subordinate officers of their government. They feared, and with reason, that spirit of contemptuous superiority, which the extraordinary and sudden rise of the English in Bengal had engendered among many of the Europeans in the service of the Company, and still more the assumed influence and power of the natives in their employment.