you will come off in this business here.’  I told him I did not expect to find such a warlike person in a Bengali merchant, and that sometimes people repented of their curiosity.  That was enough for such a fellow, but I saw clearly that the laugh would not be on my side.  However, every one was very polite, and I left the house.”

Law thinks the Seths honestly believed that the English march on Chandernagore was merely intended to frighten the French, and, as a proof of their friendliness, narrates a further incident of this visit:—­

“The conversation having turned on Siraj-ud-daula, on the reasons he had given the Seths to fear him, and on his violent character, I said I understood clearly enough what they meant, and that they certainly wanted to set up another Nawab.  The Seths, instead of denying this, contented themselves with saying in a low voice that this was a subject which should not be talked about.  Omichand, the English agent[92] (who, by the way, cried ‘Away with them!’ wherever he went), was present.  If the fact had been false, the Seths would certainly have denied it, and would have reproached me for talking in such a way.  If they had even thought I intended to thwart them, they would also have denied it, but considering all that had happened, the vexations caused us by the Nawab and our obstinate refusals to help him, they imagined that we should be just as content as they were to see him deposed, provided only the English would leave us in peace.  In fact, they did not as yet regard us as enemies.”

Law was, however, ignorant that Clive had already promised, or did so soon after, to give the property of the French Company to the Seths in payment of the money the French owed them; but he now for the first time fully realized the gravity of the situation.  The indiscretion of the Seths showed him the whole extent of the plot, and the same evening he told the Nawab, but—­

  “the poor young man began to laugh, not being able to
  imagine I could be so foolish as to indulge in such ideas.”

And yet, whilst he refused to believe in the treason of his officers, the Nawab indulged at times in the most violent outbreaks of temper against them.

“Siraj-ud-daula was not master of himself.[93] It would have needed as much firmness in his character as there was deceitfulness to make the latter quality of use to him.  At certain times his natural disposition overmastered him, especially when in his harem surrounded by his wives and servants, when he was accustomed to say openly all that was in his heart.  Sometimes this happened to him in full Durbar.”

The same evening, also, Mr. Watts came to the Durbar, and the matter of the neutrality was talked over.  The Nawab wished the two gentlemen to pledge their respective nations to keep the peace, but Mr. Watts skilfully avoided giving any promise, and suggested the Nawab should write to the Admiral.  Law, seeing that further delay was aimed at, exclaimed that the Admiral would pay as little respect to this letter as to the Nawab’s previous ones.