Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/155

Book VII. English in February, came to Mr. Watts with the same proposals from Meer Jaffier as had been made by Latty. Meer Jaffier declared, that self-defence obliged him to arm, being in danger of assassination every time he went to the Durbar; that the Duan Roydoolub, the Seats, and several officers of the first rank in the army, whom he named, had engaged to join, if the English would assist in dethroning the Nabob: if the scheme were accepted, he desired that the terms of the confederacy might be settled without delay, and requested that Colonel Olive would immediately break up his camp, and sooth the Nabob with every appearance of peace until hostilities should commence."

The superior importance of Jaffier gave him the preference over every other pretender who might offer; and as soon as Clive received intelligence of his overtures, he went from the camp to Calcutta, and communicated them to the select committee, of which he was himself a member. The committee accepted the alliance as the most fortunate event which could happen, and instructed Mr. Watts what terms to stipulate: they where all very advantageous, but one eminently so, demanding a restitution in money adequate to all the losses which had been sustained by the Company and individuals by the capture of Calcutta. This council was held on the first of May. The next day Colonel Clive returned to the camp, which, in compliance with the request of Meer Jaffier, he immediately broke up; sending one half of the troops to Calcutta, and the rest into the fort of Chandernagore. He then requested the Nabob to give the same proof of amicable intentions by withdrawing the large division of his army, which still lay encamped at Plassy, under the command of Roydoolub.

But in this interval the Nabob had been relieved from his fears of the Pitans by intelligence of their retreat from Delhi, which made him less solicitous to temporize with the English, and Roydoolub had stopped at Cutwah the detachment of 40 Europeans going to Cossimbuzar; the spy, Mooteram, who had been sent under pretence of some compliment to Colonel Clive, gave information, that half the English army had been privately detached in small parties from the