200 THE MARATHAS AND MYSORE

Company/' in other words, whether the Company should openly take up an attitude of independent au- thority. And he decided, rightly, that nothing else would give them a stable or legitimate position. They could not continue to maintain themselves by pulling the strings of native government, or by revolutionary methods whenever -the machinery broke down; and as they could not abdicate power, they were bound to take charge of its direction. The second of Clive's measures was the conclusion of the alliance with Oudh. The war of 1764 - 1765 had been disastrous to the vizir, for his strong fortress of Allahabad had been taken by the English troops, who had also compelled him to withdraw from his capital Lucknow, whereupon he had taken refuge with the Marathas. It now lay with the Company to choose between annexing, by right of conquest, some of his important districts situated on their northwestern fron- tier, or attaching the vizir to their interests by rein- stating him in this tract of country, which he held by a very dubious *title, and from which he might easily have been ousted. Lord Clive adopted the latter alternative without hesitation; he restored the districts to Oudh upon the grounds that every motive of sound policy weighed against extending the territorial possessions of the Company. This decision, he found, " disappointed the expectations of many, who thought of nothing but a march with the emperor to Delhi. My resolution how- ever was, and my hopes will be, to confine our assist-