on the spot."[120]

Law continues:--

"The next morning, as the English army started in
pursuit of the Emperor Shah Alam, Major Carnac, from
whom, I must mention in passing, I received all possible
marks of attention and politeness, sent me to Patna, where
in the English Chief, Mr. McGwire, I found an old friend,
who treated me as I should certainly have treated him in
like circumstances. I was in need of everything, and he let
me want for nothing."

Thus ended Law's attempt to maintain the French party in Bengal. All
hopes of a French attack in force on Calcutta had long since
disappeared, and, under the circumstances, his capture was fortunate
for himself and his comrades. Most of the latter were gradually
picked up by the English. Law was sent to Calcutta, and left Bengal
in 1762. He was now only forty-two years of age. On his arrival in
France he found his services much appreciated by his countrymen, and
was made a Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis,
and a Colonel of Infantry. Later on he was appointed Commissary for
the King, Commandant of the French Nation in the East Indies, and
Governor of Pondicherry. Law's account of his adventures was
commenced at Paris in 1763.[121] There exist letters written by him
to the historian Robert Orme, dated as late as 1785, which show the
strong interest he always retained in the affairs of Bengal, where
with adequate resources he might have played a much more
distinguished part.

We have seen a town besieged by a foreign army; we have seen the
Court of a great Prince distracted by internal dissensions and
trembling at the approach of a too-powerful enemy, and now we shall
pass to the quiet retreats of rural Bengal, which even their
remoteness could not save from some share in the troubles of the
time. In those days, even more than at present, the rivers were the
great highways of the country, but it needs personal acquaintance
with them to enable us to realize the effect they produce upon the
mind of a European. As a rule comparatively shallow, in the dry
weather they pursue a narrow winding course in the middle of a sandy
waste, but in the Rains they fill their beds from side to side,
overtop the banks, and make the country for miles around a series of
great lakes, studded with heavily wooded islands. Amidst these one
can wander for days hardly seeing a single human being, and hearing
nothing but the rushing of the current and the wei