etty
insults, saw fit to abuse in the vilest terms in full _Durbar_ and
to dismiss summarily from his post. He now listened to the
proposals of the Seths, and towards the end of April terms were
settled between him and the English.[101] The actual conclusion of
the Treaty took place early in June, and on the 13th of that month
Mr. Watts and the other English gentlemen at Cossimbazar escaped
under the pretence of a hunting expedition and joined Clive in
safety. As soon as he heard of this, the Nawab knew that war was
inevitable, and it had come at a moment when he had disbanded half
his army unpaid, and the other half was grumbling for arrears. Not
only had he insulted Mir Jafar, but he had also managed to quarrel
with Rai Durlabh. Instead of trying to postpone the conflict until
he had crushed these two dangerous enemies, he begged them to be
reconciled to him, and put himself in their hands. Letter after
letter was sent to recall Law, but even the first, despatched on the
13th, did not reach Law till the 22nd, owing to the treachery of the
Faujdar of Rajmehal. Law's letter entreating the Nawab to await his
arrival certainly never reached him, and though Law had started at
the first rumour of danger, before getting the Nawab's letter, he
did not reach Rajmehal till the 1st of July. The Nawab had been
captured in the neighbourhood a few hours before the arrival of his
advance-guard. Gholam Husain Khan says that Law would have been in
time had the Nawab's last remittance been a bill of exchange and not
an order on the Treasury, for--

"as slowness of motion seems to be of etiquette with the
people of Hindustan, the disbursing of the money took up
so much time that when M. Law was come down as far
Rajmehal, he found that all was over."

Law, who was nothing if not philosophical, remarked on this
disappointment:--

"In saving Siraj-ud-daula we should have scored a great
success, but possibly he would have been saved for a short
time only. He would have found enemies and traitors
wherever he might have presented himself in the countries
supposed to be subject to him. No one would have acknowledged
him. Forced by Mir Jafar and the English to flee to
a foreign country, he would have been a burden to us rather
than an assistance.

"In India no one knows what it is to stand by an
unfortunate man. The first idea which suggests itself is to
plunder him of the little[102] which remains to him.