have the cruel pleasure of watching the terrified confusion of a hundred people at a time, men, women, and children, of whom many, not being able to swim, were sure to perish.  When it became necessary to get rid of some great lord or minister, Siraj-ud-daula alone appeared in the business, Aliverdi Khan retiring to one of his houses or gardens outside the town, so that he might not hear the cries of the persons whom he was causing to be killed.”

So bad was the reputation of this young prince, that many persons, among them Mr. Watts, imagined it impossible that the people would ever tolerate his accession.  The European nations in Bengal had no regular representatives at the Court of the Nawab; and the Chiefs of the Factories at Cossimbazar, though now and then admitted to the Durbar, transacted their business mainly through wakils, or native agents, who, of course, had the advantage of knowing the language and, what was of much greater importance, understood all those indirect ways in which in Eastern countries one’s own business is forwarded and that of one’s rivals thwarted.  Then, as now, the difficulty of dealing with native agents was to induce these agents to express their own opinions frankly and clearly.[70] So far from the English Chief being corrected by his wakil, we find the latter, whilst applying to other nobles for patronage and assistance, studiously refraining from making any application to Siraj-ud-daula when English business had to be transacted at Court.

The English went even further:—­

“On certain occasions they refused him admission into their factory at Cossimbazar and their country houses, because, in fact, this excessively blustering and impertinent young man used to break the furniture, or, if it pleased his fancy, take it away.  But Siraj-ud-daula was not the man to forget what he regarded as an insult.  The day after the capture of the English fort at Cossimbazar, he was heard to say in full Durbar, ’Behold the English, formerly so proud that they did not wish to receive me in their houses!’ In short, people knew, long before the death of Aliverdi Khan, that Siraj-ud-daula was hostile to the English.”

With the French it was different:—­

“On the other hand, he was very well disposed towards us.  It being our interest to humour him, we had received him with a hundred times more politeness than he deserved.  By the advice of Rai Durlabh Ram and Mohan Lal, we had recourse to him in important affairs.  Consequently, we gave him presents from time to time, and this confirmed his friendship for us.  The previous year (1755) had been a very good one for him, owing to the business connected with the settlement of the Danes in Bengal.  In fact, it was by his influence that I was enabled to conclude this affair, and Aliverdi Khan allowed him to retain all the profit from it, so I can say that I had no bad place in the heart of Siraj-ud-daula.  It is true