[Footnote 56: Letter to H. Verelst, Esq., dated 6th June, 1766.] [Footnote 57: Letter to Sir R. Fletcher, dated 3d July, 1766.] [Footnote 58: Vide Letter to the Junior Field Officers, 6th October, 1766.] [Footnote 59: Before Lord Clive left India, he wrote to Sir R. Barker, earnestly advising him to remain till Colonel Smith returned, and assuring him of his support to succeed that officer in the command of the troops in Bengal.] [Footnote 60: Letter to Sir R. Barker, dated 12th August, 1766.] [Footnote 61: Letter to Sir R. Barker, dated 8th October, 1766.] [Footnote 62: Vide Verelst's "View of the English Government in Bengal." Lond. 1772. 4to, p. 56.] [Footnote 63: A repetition of this command was among the particular instructions to Lord Clive in 1764.] [Footnote 64: Under the establishment of this double batta, a Captain's commission produced little short of 1000_l._ per annum: when reduced, it was worth from 650_l._ to 700_l._, as appeared upon the action of Captain Parker against Lord Clive.] [Footnote 65: Mill's "History of British India," vol. iii. p. 376.] CHAP. XVI. In the preceding two chapters, an account has been given of Lord Clive's successful efforts in the arduous task of reforming the abuses, and restoring order and discipline to the civil and military services of Bengal: it remains to notice other public proceedings of importance during his last residence in India. No question connected with this period of his service was, at the moment and subsequently, the subject of more comment and discussion, both on the part of the Government at home and of individuals, than the monopoly of the salt trade; the profits of which he divided among the Governor, the Counsellors, and the senior civil and military officers; deeming this indulgence, as he repeatedly states in his official and private letters, indispensable to the integrity and efficiency of the public service. Men in high station, he argued, unless some ample and open allowance was given them, could never be expected to be reconciled to a strict observance of the covenants that prohibited presents, nor to the loss of that internal trade which had been denounced as so ruinous and oppressive. The shares in the profits from salt were, by his plan, divided according to the rank and duties of the parties. The amount was known, and, though liberal, it was limited, and, certainly, would not appear, from the statements made of it, to be more than a fair remuneration to men employed as those were to whom it was allotted. Whether this mode of remunerating service was the best at the period when it was adopted, and whether the monopoly of the salt produced in the lower parts of Bengal, which the East India Company found existing, and have ever since, under one shape or another, continued, was advantageous or hurtful, on sound financial principles, are questions which merit notice, both as connected with the biography of Clive, and with the source of our Indian revenues.