leaving Omichund with
a commission to propose to the English a treaty of alliance, offensive
and defensive, against all enemies. This proposal was a most
acceptable one, and Clive determined to seize the opportunity to crush
the French. His previous experiences, around Madras, had taught him
that the French were the most formidable rivals of England in India.
He knew that large reinforcements were on their way to Pondicherry,
and he feared that the nabob, when he recovered from his panic, might
regret the conditions which he had granted, and might ally himself
with the French in an effort, again, to expel the English.

He therefore determined at once to attack the French. The deputies
sent by Monsieur Renault, the governor of Chandranagore, had been kept
waiting from day to day, under one pretence or another; and they now
wrote to the governor that they believed that there was no real
intention, on the part of the English, to sign an agreement of
neutrality with him; and that they would be the next objects of
attack. Monsieur Renault immediately sent messengers to the nabob,
urging upon him that, if the English were allowed to annihilate the
French, they would be more dangerous enemies than ever; and
Suraja-u-Dowlah, having now recovered from his terror, wrote at once
to Calcutta, peremptorily forbidding any hostilities against the
French.

To show his determination, he despatched fifteen hundred men to
Hoogly, which the English had abandoned after capturing it, with
instructions to help the French if attacked; and he sent a lac of
rupees to Monsieur Renault, to aid him in preparing for his defence.

Clive, unwilling to face a coalition between the French and the nabob,
was in favour of acceding to the nabob's orders. The treaty of
neutrality with the French was drawn up, and would have been signed,
had it not been for the obstinate refusal of Admiral Watson to agree
to it. Between that officer and Clive there had never been any cordial
feeling, and from the time of their first connection, at the siege of
Gheriah, differences of opinion, frequently leading to angry disputes,
had taken place between them. Nor was it strange that this should be
so. Both were brave and gallant men; but while Watson had the
punctilious sense of honor which naturally belongs to an English
gentleman, Clive was wholly unscrupulous as to the means which he
employed to gain his ends.

Between two such men, it is not singular that disagreem