The Nabob by these acts, by his positive refusal to allow the English to proceed up the river, by his non-performance of some of the articles of the treaty, and by his advancing a part of his army to Plassey, had placed himself in a position hostile to the Company: but he artfully desired to throw the odium of renewed hostilities upon the English. He complained of the continuance in the field of the troops under Clive, and of the fleet's lying off Chandernagore. If the British commanders would return to Calcutta, or leave the river, he would, he said, withdraw his advanced corps from Plassey, and remain on friendly terms, as he would then be convinced that the object of the English was commerce, not war! This was the purport of several communications; but every day brought proof of their insincerity, and shewed that the Nabob's sole object was to lull them into a fatal security, till, from the departure of their force and the arrival of his French allies, he could accomplish his design of extirpating them from his dominions.
An intercepted letter[118] from M. Law to the chief of one of the lesser French factories, afforded, of itself, proof of this fact, had any been wanting: but the indiscretion of the Nabob was too great to allow him to conceal his designs; and a number of the chief nobles and ministers of his government, who had long been discontented with his rule, perceiving what must early happen, sought the alliance of the English, concluding that they must desire the dethronement of a prince whose continuance in power was incompatible with their existence.
One of the chief causes that had hitherto kept the Nabob in check, was the dread of the Affghân conquerors of Delhi: but news had arrived of their prince Ahmed Abdalla having returned to his own country, and its effects were soon visible in the threatening language and conduct of Suraj-u-Dowlah towards the resident, who now earnestly recommended Clive to lose no time in decidedly attaching himself to the party already formed against the Nabob. In one letter[119] Mr. Watts observes, "Jugget Seit, Runjutroy, Omichund, and others, in short all degrees of persons, are persuaded he (the Nabob) will break his agreement, and attack us whenever he is disengaged, or our forces weakened by your leaving us and the departure of the men-of-war, or whenever he can be assisted by the French."
The resident commences a letter, written two days after the one quoted, with the following strong expression: "The Nabob will not keep his agreement. This you may depend upon." He mentions that Suraj-u-Dowlah himself publicly speaks in this tone; but adds that three fourths of his army were his enemies.
The most serious of all the dangers with which the English were threatened at this period, was the expected arrival of Bussy, of whose real movements they had no correct intelligence. We find a letter, under date the 14th of May, A. D. 1757, from Mr. Drake, Governor of Calcutta, to Colonel Clive, which states: "The report that has so long been rumoured of M. Bussy's march into this province is now verified, by advice from the Ballasore factory of the 10th instant, certifying that M. Bussy was advanced five days on this side Cuttack, with seven hundred Europeans and five thousand sepoys."
This was the very circumstance, the probability of the occurrence of which had constituted the chief ground on which the Admiral and Clive had urged the Nabob to give them substantial proof of his friendly disposition, by abandoning wholly all connection with their enemies. Admiral Watson, in his correspondence with him, had insisted strongly upon this point. Alluding to the Nabob's frequent evasions upon this and other subjects, the Admiral writes in his letter[120] of the 19th of April, "I observe in your letter the following particulars, viz. That for my satisfaction, and according to our mutual agreement to look upon each other's enemies as our own, you have expelled M. Law and his adherents from your dominions, and given strict orders, &c. &c. My brother, Mr. Watts, who is entrusted with all the Company's concerns, always writes me the particulars of your intended favours towards us; but I have never found that what he writes is put into execution; neither do I find that what you wrote me in your letter, dated the 1st of Rajub (22d of March), is yet complied with. You therein assured me that you would fulfil all the articles you had agreed to, by the 15th of that moon. Have you ever yet complied with them all? No.—How then can I place any confidence in what you write, when your actions are not correspondent with your promises? Or how can I reconcile your telling me in so sacred a manner you will be my ally, and assist me with your forces against the French, when you have given a purwannah to M. Law and his people to go towards Patna, in order to escape me, and tell me it is for my satisfaction, and in observance of the mutual agreement, you have taken this measure? Is this an act of friendship? Or is it in this manner I am to understand you will assist me? Or am I to draw a conclusion from what you write? or what you do? You are too wise not to know, when a man tells you one thing, and does the direct contrary, which you ought to believe. Why then do you endeavour to persuade me you will be my friend, when at the same time you give my enemies your protection, furnish them with ammunition, and suffer them to go out of your dominions with three pieces of cannon? Their effects I esteem a trifling circumstance, and as far as they will contribute to do justice to your people who are creditors to the French Company, I have no objection to your seizing them for their use; for money is what I despise, and accumulating riches to myself is what I did not come out for. But I have already told you, and now repeat it again, that while a Frenchman remains in this kingdom, I will never cease pursuing him: but if they deliver themselves up, they shall find me merciful, and I am confident those who have already fallen into my hands will do me the justice to say, that they have been treated with a much greater generosity than is usual by the general custom of war."
Clive, in several letters to Mr. Watts, written immediately after the fall of Chandernagore, urges the surrender or expulsion of the French, as an indispensable condition of the Nabob's continued friendship with the English. Every artifice was used by Suraj-u-Dowlah to evade compliance with this urgent and repeated demand. He first pleaded the debts due by the French to his subjects:—he was told, that the property of their Company could be made responsible for such debts. He next stated the loss of revenue to the Emperor, from duties paid on their trade:—this duty[121], he was told, had been estimated at 60,000 rupees, and would henceforward be paid by the English. Driven by these propositions from every ground of evasion, and not yet willing to declare openly his real intentions, the Nabob publicly directed the march of M. Law towards the dominions of the vizier of Oude, but with no design, as has been before shown, that the French should leave his territories.