“I immediately drew up an Arzi, or Petition, and had one brought from the Council in Chandernagore of the same tenour as my own.  These two papers were sent to Siraj-ud-daula, who appeared satisfied with them.  He even wrote me in reply that he did not forbid our repairing old works, but merely our making new ones.  Besides, the spies who had been sent to Chandernagore, being well received and satisfied with the presents made them, submitted a report favourable to us, so that our business was hushed up.”

The English behaved very differently, and their answer, which was bold if not insolent in tone,[73] reached the Nawab at the very moment when he had received the submission of the Nawab of Purneah.  Law adds:—­

  “I was assured that the Nawab of Purneah showed him
  some letters which he had received from the English.  This
  is difficult to believe, but this is how the match took fire.

“Accordingly, no sooner had the Nawab heard the contents of the answer from the English, than he jumped up in anger, and, pulling out his sword, swore he would go and exterminate all the Feringhees.[74] At the same time he gave orders for the march of his army, and appointed several Jemadars[75] to command the advance guard.  As in his first burst of rage he had used the general word Feringhees, which is applied to all Europeans, some friends whom I had in the army, and who did not know how our business had ended, sent to warn me to be on my guard, as our Factory would be besieged.  The alarm was great with us, and with the English, at Cossimbazar.  I spent more than twenty-four hours in much anxiety; carrying wood, provisions, etc., into the Factory, but I soon knew what to expect.  I saw horsemen arrive and surround the English fort, and at the same time I received an official letter from the Nawab, telling me not to be anxious, and that he was as well pleased with us as he was ill pleased with the English.”

Cossimbazar surrendered without firing a shot, owing to the treacherous advice of the Nawab’s generals, and Siraj-ud-daula advanced on Calcutta.  It was with the greatest difficulty that Law escaped being forced to march in his train.

“The remains of the respect which he had formerly felt for Europeans made him afraid of failure in his attack on Calcutta, which had been represented to him as a very strong place, defended by three or four thousand men.  He wrote to me in the strongest terms to engage the Director of Chandernagore to give him what assistance he could in men and ammunition.  ‘Calcutta is yours,’ he said to our agent in full Durbar; ’I give you that place and its dependencies as the price of the services you will render me.  I know, besides, that the English are your enemies; you are always at war with them either in Europe or on the Coromandel Coast, so I can interpret your refusal only as a sign of the little interest you