Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/116

92 conscious that his conduct throughout had been open to suspicion; and, in the interview with the English officers which followed the flight of Suraja Dowlah, he evinced more apprehension than joy. The military honours with which he was received at the English camp alarmed instead of gratifying him; but on being introduced to Clive, his fears were allayed by the apparent cordiality with which the Colonel saluted him as Soubahdar of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. A few days afterwards he was led by Clive to the musnud, in the hall of audience at Moorshedabad, and received the formal homage of the principal officers and dependants of the Government.

Suraja Dowlah was now a wanderer through the country which lately owned no law but his will. On arriving at his palace, after his flight from Plassy, he found himself in danger of being abandoned by every adherent. To secure the continued fidelity of his soldiers, he made a large distribution of money among them; but, though they readily accepted his bounty, they immediately deserted with it to their own homes. His nearest relatives refused to engage in his support, or even to encounter the danger of accompanying him in the further flight which was now inevitable. That flight was accelerated by the arrival of Meer Jaffier; and, taking advantage of the night, he departed with a very slender retinue, in the hope of being able to join the French detachment under Monsieur Law.

In search of food and shelter, the hapless Suraja Dowlah entered the dwelling of a devotee who, in the day of his power, had been one of the sufferers from his cruelty, his nose and ears having been cut off by the order of the tyrant. The person of the royal applicant was known, and the injury was remembered, but the hospitality implored was not withheld. The host received his visitors with courtesy, and placed refreshment before them; availing himself of the time occupied in partaking of it to despatch private information of the arrival of his distinguished guest to Meer Cossim, a relative of Meer