gore until they had
recovered Calcutta from the Moors, taken the Moorish village
at Hugli, and forced the Moors to agree to a most shameful
peace. This was not, as thou wilt see, sufficient for them,
for Siraj-ud-daula had offended them too deeply for them to
stop when once they found themselves on a good road; but
unfortunately we were an obstacle in the way of their
vengeance, otherwise I believe they would have observed
the neutrality which had been always so carefully maintained
by the European nations in the country of the Ganges, in
spite of all the wars which took place in Europe. Many of
the French from Chandernagore--officers, Company's servants,
and others--had taken refuge at Cossimbazar with M. Law,
who formed there a party which opposed the English in
various ways. The English, however, forced Siraj-ud-daula,
against his true interest and in spite of his promise to
protect us, to abandon us, and to make M. Law leave his
Factory and go to Patna. This imprudent act was the ruin
of the Prince and put the final touch to our misfortunes,
whilst it has made the English masters of Bengal, and has
filled their coffers with wealth.

"I held on at Dacca till the 22nd of June. I was troubled
as little as was possible in such circumstances, owing, I
think, to the gratitude which the English felt for the services
I had rendered them in Dacca the year before. I had all
the more reason to think this was so because, after the
misfortune which befell Chandernagore, they had often
offered to secure to me all my effects and merchandise in
Murshidabad [?]--they were worth a million--provided I
made over to them the French Factory and all that belonged
to the Company, and would myself leave for Pondicherry
in the following October. They said I should not be considered
a prisoner of war, and should not require to be
exchanged.

"These were, no doubt, very good terms, and most
advantageous to me; but should I not have been dishonoured
for ever if I had had a soul so servile and base as to accept
them? I would have been covered with ignominy in my
own eyes, and without doubt in those of all the world. I
therefore thought it my duty to reject them.

"Things were on this footing when, at the beginning
of June, I learned that the English, having got rid of M.
Law, were marching upon Murshidabad with all their forces
to achieve the destructi