We have already seen that, by the firman of the King of Delhi, the English Company possessed the right of trading free from duties. This privilege was granted to favour the kind of trade they then carried on, which was confined to exports and imports by sea: and the dustuck, or passport, of the English presidents or chiefs, was respected by the Subahdar's officers to that extent. Under this privilege the President favoured also the private trade of the Company's servants or officers, which, though not strictly according to the words of the firman, was never objected to. As to the internal or carrying trade of the country, to engage in it never entered into the plans of the Company or its servants, which were confined to the valuable and profitable traffic between Europe and India; and, had they thought of it, it is clear that it could not have been profitably conducted by foreigners under a native government, which had the power of enforcing justice in the transactions between them and its own subjects. But after the deposition of Suraj-u-Dowlah, and the elevation of Meer Jaffier, the influence of the English in Bengal became paramount; and, as they were all traders, some of them extended their views, and availed themselves of their political superiority to enter into the internal trade also; and, applying their partial freedom from duties on foreign trade to circumstances totally different, employed it to exempt themselves from duties even on their illegal internal commerce; an indulgence which, of course, had never been intended. As long as Clive remained in Bengal, he checked these pretensions by his characteristic firmness and spirit; but no sooner had he left the country, than there was a general rush of the Company's servants, and of Europeans of all classes, towards the interior trade of the three provinces. In the foreign trade, the Company and its officers had, indeed, the advantage of trading free of duties, but the returns were tardy, and in some instances uncertain; whereas in the internal trade the return was rapid and certain; and, as they most unjustly claimed for this trade the same exemption from duties which they had enjoyed for the articles of their foreign export trade, it is clear that they had it in their power to undersell the native merchant in his own market; that, to the extent of their capital, they had all the advantages of a monopoly; and that, as their trade increased, the revenues of the sovereign must decay. By this assumption they, in fact, made themselves participators in the benefit of the taxes imposed for the public service.