[258] 27th February, 1759.
[259] A letter from a prince to a subject is, in India, invariably termed a firman, or mandate.
[260] Clive, on the assurance of Meeran, appears, for the moment, to have believed this report. He wrote to Meer Jaffier, urging him to abandon the play of the Hooley (a Hindu feast), and to hasten to the field, if he desired to preserve his country. To Ram Narrain he wrote in the following terms:—"I have neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, the letter I have now received from Mr. Amyatt; nor could aught but the great confidence I have in him induce me to give credit to its contents. Have you no sense of the obligations you are under to me for all the care and pains I have taken for you? If you had not courage equal to the occasion, yet what could have induced you to act so imprudent a part? What power has the Shah Zada to resist the united forces of the Nabob and the English? Think, then, what will be your fate. For God's sake reflect on the duty you owe to your master, to my friendship, and to your own safety. Turn from this bad design, and act in such a manner that your master may be satisfied with you, and the world acknowledge you worthy of the friendship I have shown you. Should you, from want of courage, forsake your city, be assured it will not remain ten days in the Shah Zada's power."
Ram Narrain, in answer to this letter, urged the difficulties of his situation, and his want of means for a protracted defence; but asserted his fidelity. Clive wrote in reply (29th March), "I shall continue to march, with the utmost expedition, to your assistance. Let my approach animate you to a vigorous defence; and let your conduct be such that I may never repent the protection I have given you."
When Clive was informed of Ram Narrain's having repulsed the Shah Zada, he wrote him in terms of the highest applause and encouragement: "Your behaviour convinces me not only of your fidelity, but of your bravery as a soldier; and you may be assured of my maintaining you in your subahship, even at the hazard of my life." He adds, "Continue thus gloriously to exert yourself, and be assured of my coming shortly to your aid."
[261] Ensign Mathews writes to Clive, from Patna, on the 6th of April, as follows:—"The Shah Zada's army, on the arrival of the English advanced guard (as they term it), raised the siege yesterday morning. Had we not been so expeditious on our marches, they would have had the town this day, as they meant to storm, and had undermined one place."
[262] 19th March, 1759.
[263] The Prince, in his letter to Clive, assumed his title of "Shah Alum," by which we denominate him.
[264] The Vizier wrote two letters to the Nabob, to the same purport as that from the Emperor. He further states, in the second letter, that Mahommed Hedayet-Buksh, second son of the Emperor, was appointed Subadar of Patna, and Meer Jaffier his naib. The nomination of the Prince was titular; but, by its being made at this period, it was, no doubt, meant to take away every shadow of a pretext that could justify the invasion of that province by the Prince Shah Alum. These letters were received at Moorshedabad on the 29th of March, and must have been written before Shah Alum left Benares.
[265] Clive, in a letter to Mr. Manningham of the 24th of April, makes the following observations on Shah Alum's situation at this period:—"The Prince, beset as he is on all sides, must be in great distress, and much puzzled where to retire to. I herewith send you a translation of a letter lately received from him. The letter to which he alludes, as having received from me, is an absolute forgery, as I never wrote him but one, and that from Calcutta, to which this bears no resemblance. The affair appears to be a contrivance of his, in order to sow dissension between the Nabob and me; unless it be really the consequence of the necessitous state to which he is reduced, and intended as an introduction to his throwing himself upon us for protection."