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Within the fort and its precinct, the English exercised, by
permission of the native government, an extensive authority,
such as every great Indian landowner exercised within his
own domain. But they had never dreamed of claiming in-
dependent power. The surrounding country was ruled by
the Nabob of the Carnatic, a deputy of the Viceroy of the
Deccan, commonly called the Nizam, who was himself only
a deputy of the mighty prince designated by our ancestors as
the Great Mogul. Those names, once so august and formi-
dable, still remain. There is still a Nabob of the Carnatic, who
lives on a pension allowed to him by the English out of the
revenues of the province which his ancestors ruled. There is
still a Nizam, whose capital is overawed by a British can-
tonment, and to whom a British resident gives, under the name
of advice, commands which are not to be disputed. There is
still a Mogul, who is permitted to play at holding courts and
receiving petitions, but who has less power to help or hurt than
the youngest civil servant of the Company.

Clive’s voyage was unusually tedious even for that age.
The ship remained some months at the Brazils, where the
young adventurer picked up some knowledge of Portuguese,
and spent all his pocket-money. He did not arrive in India
till more than a year after he had left England. His situation
at Madras was most painful. His funds were exhausted. His
pay was small. He had contracted debts. He was wretchedly
lodged, no small calamity in a climate which can be made
tolerable to an European only by spacious and Well placed
apartments. He had been furnished with letters of recom-
mendation to a gentleman who might have assisted him ; but
when he landed at Fort St. George he found that this gen-
tleman had sailed for England. The lad’s shy and haughty
disposition withheld him from introducing himself to strangers.
He was several months in India before he became acquainted
with a single family. The climate aﬂected his health and

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