ents arose.
Admiral Watson, impelled by feelings of personal dislike to Clive,
often allowed himself to be carried to unwarrantable lengths. On the
occasion of the capture of Calcutta, he ordered Captain Eyre Coote,
who first entered it, to hold it in the king's name, and to disobey
Clive's orders, although the latter had been granted a commission in
the royal army as lieutenant colonel, and was, moreover, the chief
authority of the Company in all affairs on land. Upon Clive's
asserting himself, Admiral Watson absolutely threatened to open fire
upon his troops. Apparently from a sheer feeling of opposition, he now
opposed the signing of the treaty with the French, and several days
were spent in stormy altercations.

Circumstances occurred, during this time, which strengthened the view
he took, and changed those of Clive and his colleagues of the council.
Just then, the news reached Suraja-u-Dowlah that Delhi had been
captured by the Afghans; and, terrified at the thought that the
victorious northern enemy might next turn their arms against him, he
wrote to Clive, begging him to march to his assistance, and offering a
lac of rupees a month towards the expense of his army.

On the same day that Clive received the letter, he heard that
Commodore James and three ships, with reinforcements from Bombay, had
arrived at the mouth of the Hoogly; and that the Cumberland, with
three hundred troops, which had grounded on her way from Madras, was
now coming up the river.

Almost at the same moment he heard, from Omichund, who had accompanied
the nabob to Moorshedabad, that he had bribed the governor of Hoogly
to offer no opposition to the passage of the troops up the river.

Clive was now ready to agree to Admiral Watson's views, and to advance
at once against Chandranagore; but the admiral again veered round, and
refused to agree to the measure, unless the consent of the nabob was
obtained. He wrote, however, himself, a threatening, and indeed
violent letter to the nabob, ordering him to give his consent. The
nabob, still under the influence of his fears from the Afghans,
replied in terms which amounted to consent, but the very next day,
having received news which calmed his fears as to the Afghans, he
wrote peremptorily, forbidding the expedition against the French. This
letter, however, was disregarded, and the expedition prepared to
start.

It consisted of seven hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred native
infantry, who s