Meanwhile, in Bengal, when September, 1767, arrived, these last orders having not yet been received, nor indeed written, another year was allowed by Mr. Verelst, the new Governor, and his Council, to the Society of Trade, to collect their debts, and realise their capital. It was not till September, 1768, that it ceased; and the Court of Directors having, in December, 1769[86], by a sudden and singular departure from their opinions, so strongly announced, sent out instructions to lay open the inland trade to all persons, as well natives as Europeans, a proclamation to that effect was published at Calcutta, on the 12th of December, 1770. The effect of this essential change in the Company's plans on the future prosperity of the provinces, it is no part of the present Memoir to investigate; but it is very plain, that, by admitting Europeans into the inland trade, in the state in which the country then was, they really did away with all the benefit that could in any way have been expected to arise from abolishing the monopoly. But whether Lord Clive's opinions regarding the trade in salt were sound or not, one thing at least is evident,--he was perfectly conscientious in the advice he gave, and on the measures he adopted, on that subject. This is plain from his whole conduct, and from his correspondence, public and private, with numerous persons, while in India. Nor did his anxiety on the subject cease, even after he had reached England, when all private interest in the subject, if he can be supposed ever to have had any, must have been over. Finding accidentally, some months after his arrival, that the plan of abolishing the Salt Society continued to be entertained, he explained his views on the subject to the Committee of Treasury and Correspondence of the Directors, in a detailed and laboured letter.[87] He pointed out the advantages of the trade as then regulated, as the best fund that the Company could appropriate for the payment, without grudging or envy, of their superior servants: that it enabled them to regulate the emoluments of their servants, according to their own wishes; that by it, their servants had the appearance of being paid, not by the Company, but by the profits of their own trade,--an advantage not attending any payment by a percentage on the revenue. "If you grant a commission upon the revenue," says he, "the sum will not only be large, but known to the world; the allowance being publicly ascertained, every man's proportion will at times be the occasion of much discourse, envy, and jealousy; the great will interfere in your appointments, and noblemen will perpetually solicit you to provide for the younger branches of their families." It is evident, that his views originated not in principles of political economy, but of policy, forced upon him by the circumstances in which India was placed. His efforts were directed to insure a desirable object, in what he deemed, not certainly the best, but the only practicable mode.