Fleetwood fleeces the company – a cartel is formed and the Lord Chamberlain falls in – the players protest but Fleetwood's ‘Estimate’ prevails – Garrick, Macklin, and ‘Kitty Cuckoe’ part ways – Clive meets De Fesch – Rich abuses, Clive protests; Garrick abuses, Macklin protests – audiences fire Fleetwood

In 1743 Clive was caught up in the second actors’ revolt of her career, but this time her involvement damaged her reputation irreparably. After the Licensing Act of 1737 had closed all but the two royal playhouses, the ensuing duopoly was a temptation to form a cartel that Charles Fleetwood and John Rich did not resist. Fleetwood also stole from the Drury Lane payroll to cover his gambling debts, and the unpaid actors walked out. David Garrick and Charles Macklin headed one rebel faction, Clive another. The players’ only recourse was to the Lord Chamberlain, who had the power to allow players to act outside either licensed playhouse. The Lord Chamberlain, presented with strong evidence of Fleetwood's malfeasance and petitioned by the actors for protection, sided with Fleetwood, whose story was that the exorbitant salaries of his principals had caused a modest deficit at Drury Lane, and that players were public servants who should know their place. Garrick and Macklin then turned enemies, each blaming the other in the press for spearheading the rebellion and betraying his fellows. Macklin lambasted Garrick for returning unilaterally to Drury Lane; Garrick defended this move as a means to help other rebel players return.

Clive fought her image war differently, downplaying her involvement at every opportunity. As in the 1736 Polly Row, she described herself as a victim of managers, now joined in a cartel to exploit players. She was the first of the rebel leaders to publicly charge Fleetwood with lying about their high salaries, her own especially, which she appears to have anticipated could lose audience sympathy for their cause. On the Garrick–Macklin conflict Clive was silent, refusing either to side openly with Macklin, or to return to Drury Lane with Garrick. Instead she took a breakaway group to Covent Garden. Outside the regular Covent Garden season, she led brief runs of masques and oratorios by Willem De Fesch.