Besides,
a character like that of Siraj-ud-daula could nowhere find a
real friend."

Siraj-ud-daula, defeated by Clive at Plassey on the 23rd of June,
was, says Scrafton,--

"himself one of the first that carried the news of his defeat
to the capital, which he reached that night."

His wisest councillors urged him to surrender to Clive, but he
thought this advice treacherous, and determined to flee towards
Rajmehal. When nearly there he was recognized by a Fakir,[103] whose
ears he had, some time before, ordered to be cut off. The Fakir
informed the Faujdar, who seized him and sent him to Murshidabad,
where Miran, Mir Jafar's son, put him to death on the 4th of July.

It was necessary for Law to withdraw as quickly as possible if he
was to preserve his liberty. Clive and Mir Jafar wrote urgent
letters to Ramnarain at Patna to stop him, but Ramnarain was no
lover of Mir Jafar, and he was not yet acquainted with Clive, so he
allowed him to pass. Law says:--

"On the 16th of July we arrived at Dinapur, eight miles
above Patna, where I soon saw we had no time to lose.
The Raja of Patna himself would not have troubled us much.
By means of our boats we could have avoided him as we
pleased, for though our fleet was in a very bad condition,
still it could have held its own against the naval forces
of Bengal, i.e. the Indian forces, but the English were advancing,
commanded by Major Coote. As the English call
themselves the masters of the aquatic element, it became us
the less to wait for them, when we knew they had stronger
and more numerous boats than we had. Possibly we could
have outsailed them, but we did not wish to give them the
pleasure of seeing us flee. On the 18th instant an order
from the Raja instructed me in the name of Mir Jafar to
halt--no doubt to wait for the English--whilst another on his
own part advised me to hurry off. Some small detachments
of horsemen appeared along the bank, apparently to hinder
us from getting provisions or to lay violent hands on the
boatmen. On this we set sail, resolved to quit all the
dependencies of Bengal. In spite of ourselves we had to
halt at Chupra, twenty-two miles higher up, because our
rowers refused to go further: prayers and threats all seemed
useless. I thought the English had found some means to
gain them over. The boats did not belong to us, but we
should have had little scruple in seizing them had our