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THE NEW ATTACK ON THE EAST INDIAN TRADE 467 
During this period the possessions of the Company had A.D. 1689 
undergone startling vicissitudes; they had been almost de- ihe 
stroyed by the French, but the fortunes of the English were action of 
restored by the skill and energy of Clive, and their influence ** Z*** 
had at last triumphed in all the three Presidencies. Clive’s 
greatest achievements had been effected in open disregard 
of the instructions of the Directors; and his whole career 
illustrates the extreme difficulty under which the Company 
laboured, from its relation to servants who were so far 
distant as to be exempt from all practical control. He 
believed that the Company would be better served, if the 
officials enjoyed a different status and had more freedom from 
routine. The system on which they were paid was very 
unsatisfactory; their salaries were small, and they were 
obliged to eke out their resources by taking part in the in- 
ternal trade of the country. The Company reserved the 
trade between the Indies and Europe, as a strict monopoly, 
for itself; but allowed its servants to engage on their own in carrying 
account in trade between different parts of the Indies. This on prvante 
private trade led to many imbroglios with the natives, as in 
certain cases, where the goods of the Company were allowed 
to go free of custom by the authorities in Bengal, the 
agents endeavoured, and not without success, to pass their 
private speculations at the same time’. Private trade was 
looked on with disfavour, because many officers were apt to 
give their best attention to their own ventures, and to 
neglect the affairs of the Company they served. One of the 
reforms which Clive endeavoured to carry through, in 1765, 
was the establishment of a monopoly of salt, betel-nut, and 
tobacco ; this monopoly was intended to be carried on for the 
benefit of the superior servants of the Company®. The Di- 
rectors were strongly opposed to this private trade society, 
and it was abolished in 17685, 
Indeed it may be said that, while the chief troubles of 
the Company in earlier times were due to the interlopers, 
those which occurred during a great part of the eighteenth 
} Mill, History of British India, mm. 25, 230. 
3 Jb. 11. 289. 
8 7b. or. 310. 
30—19