the usual promotion of an officer in the King's army. The
only proof that the elder was the Chief of Cossimbazar is to be
found in a few letters, mostly copies, in which his name is given as
Jean or John. As a usual rule he signed himself in the French manner
by his surname only, or as Law of Lauriston.

His experiences during the four years following the accession of
Siraj-ud-daula were painful and exciting, and he has recorded them
in a journal or memoir[68] which has never yet been published, but
which is of great interest to the student of Indian history. For us
it has the added charm of containing a picture of ourselves painted
by one who, though a foreigner by education, was enabled by his
birth to understand our national peculiarities. In the present
chapter I shall limit myself almost entirely to quotations from this
memoir.

Law was by no means an admirer of Aliverdi Khan's successor,--

"Siraj-ud-daula, a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five,[69]
very common in appearance. Before the death of Aliverdi
Khan the character of Siraj-ud-daula was reported to be one
of the worst ever known. In fact, he had distinguished himself
not only by all sorts of debauchery, but by a revolting
cruelty. The Hindu women are accustomed to bathe on the
banks of the Ganges. Siraj-ud-daula, who was informed by
his spies which of them were beautiful, sent his satellites in
disguise in little boats to carry them off. He was often
seen, in the season when the river overflows, causing the
ferry boats to be upset or sunk in order to 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