“as slowness of motion seems to be of etiquette with the people of Hindustan, the disbursing of the money took up so much time that when M. Law was come down as far Rajmehal, he found that all was over.”

Law, who was nothing if not philosophical, remarked on this disappointment:—­

“In saving Siraj-ud-daula we should have scored a great success, but possibly he would have been saved for a short time only.  He would have found enemies and traitors wherever he might have presented himself in the countries supposed to be subject to him.  No one would have acknowledged him.  Forced by Mir Jafar and the English to flee to a foreign country, he would have been a burden to us rather than an assistance.

“In India no one knows what it is to stand by an unfortunate man.  The first idea which suggests itself is to plunder him of the little[102] which remains to him.  Besides, a character like that of Siraj-ud-daula could nowhere find a real friend.”

Siraj-ud-daula, defeated by Clive at Plassey on the 23rd of June, was, says Scrafton,—­

  “himself one of the first that carried the news of his defeat
  to the capital, which he reached that night.”

His wisest councillors urged him to surrender to Clive, but he thought this advice treacherous, and determined to flee towards Rajmehal.  When nearly there he was recognized by a Fakir,[103] whose ears he had, some time before, ordered to be cut off.  The Fakir informed the Faujdar, who seized him and sent him to Murshidabad, where Miran, Mir Jafar’s son, put him to death on the 4th of July.

It was necessary for Law to withdraw as quickly as possible if he was to preserve his liberty.  Clive and Mir Jafar wrote urgent letters to Ramnarain at Patna to stop him, but Ramnarain was no lover of Mir Jafar, and he was not yet acquainted with Clive, so he allowed him to pass.  Law says:—­

“On the 16th of July we arrived at Dinapur, eight miles above Patna, where I soon saw we had no time to lose.  The Raja of Patna himself would not have troubled us much.  By means of our boats we could have avoided him as we pleased, for though our fleet was in a very bad condition, still it could have held its own against the naval forces of Bengal, i.e. the Indian forces, but the English were advancing, commanded by Major Coote.  As the English call themselves the masters of the aquatic element, it became us the less to wait for them, when we knew they had stronger and more numerous boats than we had.  Possibly we could have outsailed them, but we did not wish to give them the pleasure of seeing us flee.  On the 18th instant an order from the Raja instructed me in the name of Mir Jafar to halt—­no doubt to wait for the English—­whilst another on his own part advised me to hurry off.  Some small detachments of horsemen appeared along the bank, apparently to hinder us from getting provisions