It will be sufficient to add that
Clive, receiving no answer to his summons, made a sudden attack on a
small earthwork to the south-west of the fort at 3 A.M. on the 14th
of March. For two whole days then, the English had been in sight of
Chandernagore without attacking. The French ladies had been sent to
Chinsurah and Serampore, so that the defenders had nothing to fear
on their account. Besides the French soldiers and civilians, there
were also about 2000 Moorish troops present, whom Law says he
persuaded the Nawab to send down as soon as the English left
Calcutta. Other accounts say that Renault hired them to assist him.
The Nawab had a strong force at Murshidabad ready to march under one
of his commanders, Rai Durlabh Ram; but the latter had experienced
what even a small English force could do in the night attack on the
Nawab's camp, and was by no means inclined to match himself a second
time against Clive; accordingly, he never got further than five
leagues from Murshidabad. Urgent messages were sent from
Chandernagore as soon as the attack began. M. Law begged of the
Nawab to send reinforcements. Mr. Watts, the English Chief, and all
his party in the _Durbar_, did their utmost to prevent any orders
being issued. The Nawab gave orders which he almost immediately
countermanded. Renault ascribes this to a letter which he says
Clive wrote on the 14th of March, the very day of the attack,
promising the Nawab to leave the French alone, but it is not at all
likely that he did so. It is true Clive had written to this effect
on the 22nd of February; but since then much had happened, and he
was now acting, as he thought and said, with the Nawab's permission.
On the 16th of March he wrote to Nand Kumar, Faujdar[35] of Hugli,
as follows:--

"The many deceitful wicked measures that the French
have taken to endeavour to deprive me of the Nawab's
favour (tho' I thank God they have proved in vain, since
his Excellency's friendship towards me is daily increasing)
has long made me look on them as enemies to the English,
but I could no longer stifle my resentment when I found
that ... they dared to oppose the freedom of the English
trade on the Ganges by seizing a boat with an English
_dustuck_,[36] and under English colours that was passing by their
town. I am therefore come to a resolution to attack them.
I am told that some of the Government's forces have been
perswaded under promise of great rewards fr