Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/602

 •"jG^ HlSTOltY OF IN MA. [Book Hi.

A.D. 1767. then send M. Law to your assistance, unless you forVji<l his setting out. liest

assured of my good-will towards you and your company." Mutufti .lb- These letters, written after the treaty offensive and defensive with the British

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had been concluded, were undoubtedly a gross violation of it ; and as their sub- stance, though not their actual contents was known to Clive, he must now liave been convinced that he had been somewhat precipitate in signing the treaty, as it had already become in fact a dead letter. Neither 7)arty, however, was yet prepared to proceed to extremities, and some time was spent by them in endeavouring to outwit each other. The naboVj, in order to leave no pretext for saying that he had not ful tilled his part of the treaty, complied liberally with most of its articles, paying a large sum to account of the damage which the Company had sustained : and then insisted, with some show of reason, that the whole of the British forces, army and navy, should forthwith return to Calcutta. The ships departed, carrying with them the plvmder of Chanderaa- gore, valued at considerably more than £100,000. Clive refused to move, and encamped on a plain to the north of Hooghly. This .step, while it could not be regarded by the nabob in any other light than a direct menace, amounted to a violation of the orders which he had received from his employers at Madras. One of their main reasons for not giving the command to Colonel Adlercron was because he would not promise to return whenever they should require. Clive had given this promise, and on the faith of it had been in- trusted with powers which made him independent of the Bengal presidency. Up to a very recent period his letters to Madras had contained assurances of his determination to return ; but their tone had recently altered, and it now appeared that though the promise had never been recalled, a change of circum- stances had occurred of such importance as to justify him in disregarding it. What this change was must now be explained. iiie nabob The uabob, constantly urged to sm'render or dismiss the French assembled

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iiismiss the at Cossimbazar, pretended to adopt the latter alternative, and ordered them to remove westward into Behar. Had he really intended to part with them he would have sent them to join their countrj-men in the Deccan; and hence Clive, so far from being satisfied with the dismissal, remonstrated against the mode of it, and even threatened to take the remedy into his own hands, by sending a detachment in pursuit. While thus condemned, on the one hand, for insufficient compliance with the wishes of the British, the nabob was solemnly warned by the French, on the other, that by dismissing them he was depriving himself of the only soldiers on whose fidelity and prowess he could safely calcu- late. M. Law, who was at their head, even pointed out distinctly the source from which danger would arise. Many of the nabob's principal officers were disaffected, and they were only waiting to combine with the English to effect his destruction. This information was correct; but the nabob, though convinced of its truth, was too irresolute to act upon it, and, in dismissing M. Law, simply