The plea for the mutinous defection from their duty of a great proportion of the officers of the Bengal army in 1766, was the reduction of double batta, which was first introduced after the battle of Plassey, by the Nabob Jaffier Ally Cawn, who granted it to the English force, of which, according to treaty, he was to pay the expenses. Lord Clive, at the period of this grant, warned the army, that it must be considered as an indulgence on the part of the Nabob, which the Company would not be inclined to continue. It happened as he anticipated; for, when the Nabob assigned certain districts to the Company, in order to defray the expenses of the army, the Court of Directors, unwilling to adopt so expensive a precedent, issued the most positive orders[2], that double batta should be abolished. These orders were several times repeated, but the remonstrances of the army had hitherto prevented the Governor and Council carrying them into execution. In 1764, when Lord Clive accepted for the second time the government of Bengal, this was one of the points most strongly pressed[3] upon him by the Court of Directors. The whole army had been formed into regiments, and divided into three brigades, according to a plan of Clive. The first, under Lieutenant Colonel Sir R. Fletcher, garrisoned Monghyr; the third brigade, under Colonel Sir Robert Barker, was cantoned at Bankipore; and the second, under Colonel Smith, was stationed at Allahabad, at the request of the Emperor of Delhi and Sujah Dowlah, to keep the Mahrattas in check. The peace which had been established, and the regimenting the troops, offered a favourable opportunity for carrying into effect the positive commands of the Directors; and accordingly an order was issued by the Select Committee, directing that, from the 1st of January, 1766, double batta to the European officers of the army should cease, except at Allahabad, where, on account of the distance from Calcutta, it was continued to the second brigade, as long as it should be actually in the field; but when in cantonments, that corps was to be reduced to single batta. At Patna and Monghyr, the troops were allowed half batta when not on service; while those at the presidency were put upon the same footing as the troops on the coast of Coromandel, who drew no batta, except when actually marching or serving in the field.