There seemed to be no alternative, therefore, but either to let things proceed in the ruinous course in which they now were, to enforce the covenants, and enter, unaided, on a hopeless struggle between private interest and public duty; or to find means, from such resources of the country as were not yet claimed by the Company, to pay the superior servants in an adequate and ample manner; and this last he resolved to attempt. "It was not expedient," says Clive himself, in his speech in the House of Commons[76], "to draw the reins too tight. It was not expedient that the Company's servants should pass from affluence to beggary. It was necessary that some emoluments should accrue to the servants in general, and more especially to those in superior stations, who were to assist in carrying on the measures of Government. The salary of a councillor is, I think, scarcely 300_l._ per annum; and it is well known that he cannot live in that country for less than 3000_l._ The same proportion holds among the other servants. It was requisite, therefore, that an establishment should take place; and the Select Committee, after the most mature deliberation, judged that the trade in salt, betle-nut, and tobacco, under proper regulations, might effectually answer the purpose." One difficulty had been removed when, about the time of the grant of the dewannee, the young Nabob, Nujum-ed-Dowlah, had yielded up to the Company the whole of the revenues of the three provinces, in consideration of a fixed annuity. The question, after that, no longer regarded the Nabob, or his revenues; it was only between the Company, their servants, and the natives; and Clive believed that, by an arrangement regarding the salt trade, the interest of all could be conciliated: and it is to be recollected, that the Directors had ordered that the new plan should have a view to "the interest of the Company, and likewise of the Company's servants."[77]