"The King has granted to the Company for ever, with the approbation and consent of the Nabob, all the revenues which shall remain after paying him a certain tribute, and allowing a sum sufficient for the dignity and support of the Nabob. The Company's income exceeds 2,000,000_l._ sterling per annum, and their civil and military expenses in future never shall exceed 700,000_l._ per annum, in time of peace, and 1,000,000_l._ in time of war. For further particulars, let me refer you to Mr. Walsh. With regard to the French forces, I shall put those of the Company upon so respectable a footing, that all the powers of Europe can have no chance of succeeding, without first landing, and being supported by the powers of the country; and that appears very impracticable, since I have lately acquired a grant from the King of five northern provinces, those the French formerly possessed." Clive's correspondence with his historian Orme appears at this period to have revived, and he evidently looks to him as the transmitter of his fame to posterity[98]:-- "I have wrote so many letters, and gone through such a scene of public business, that I cannot attempt describing to you any part of our proceedings in this part of the world. Scrafton, Walsh, and Colonel Smith will furnish you with abundant matter of surprize and astonishment. Let it suffice to say, that fortune seems determined to accompany me to the last; every object, every sanguine wish, is upon the point of being completely fulfilled, and I am arrived at the pinnacle of all I covet, by affirming the Company shall, in spite of all envy, malice, faction, and resentment, acknowledge they are become the most opulent company in the world, by the battle of Plassey; and Sir Hannibal Hotpot shall acknowledge the same. "I am preparing plans in abundance for you. You shall have very exact charts of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and of the Mogul empire as far as Delhi at least. A map of the Ganges likewise, and all the other rivers of consequence." The following letters to his cousin Harry and to his father are pleasing proofs that his important occupations never cooled his mind from his duties and feelings as a relation or a friend:-- "I have received[99] your letter of 22d of November, 1764, by which I find you are all in health, though not so happy as when I was among you. I make no doubt of once more contributing towards that happiness, though not quite so soon as I expected, when in England, owing to the length of our passage. I have pitched upon the beginning of December, 1766, for resigning this government; and nothing but my death shall prevent it. General Carnac, myself, and the rest of our family, propose coming most of the way overland; and shall, in all probability, be in London some time in April, 1767.