ABSTRACT
THE defeat of Lally in the South and Clive's government in Bengal had now established the English in a position of ascendancy in two great provinces of India. The problem now was, to provide that ascendancy with some more durable basis than military force or the good-will of the Durbar. In both provinces small cessions of territory had been made to the English; but in neither were these at all equal to meeting the cost of the troops required for protecting them from external enemies. In both, therefore, the Nawab's co-operation was essential; in both his misconduct or ill-will might produce the worst consequences at a critical moment. Hitherto in Bengal the English had been able to rely on the practical genius of Clive; in Madras the threatening power of the French had kept Muhammad Ali faithful to his alliance. But Clive left Bengal in the beginning of 1760, and Pondichéry was taken just a year later.
