ess, betrayed his master for his own
gain.

Mir Muhammad Jafar was a nobleman whose family had settled in Bihar.
He had taken service under, had become a trusted officer of, Ali
Vardi Khan, the father of Siraj-ud-daula, and had married his sister.
On his death, he had been made Bakhshi, or Commander-in-chief, of the
army, and, in that capacity, had commanded it when it took Calcutta
in June, 1756.[6] Between himself and his wife's nephew,
Siraj-ud-daula, there had never been any cordiality. The latter, with
the insolence of untamed and uneducated youth, had kicked against the
authority of his uncle; had frequently insulted him; and had even
removed him from his office. Mir Jafar had felt these slights
bitterly. {110}Living, as he was, in an age of revolution, dynasties
falling about him, the very throne of Delhi the appanage of the
strongest, he felt no compunction in allying himself with the
foreigner to remove from the throne--for it was virtually a
throne--of Murshidabad the man who alternately insulted and fawned
upon him. Little did he know, little even did he reck, the price he
would have to pay. Fortunately for his peace of mind at the moment
the future was mercifully hidden from him. But those who are familiar
with the history of Bengal after the first departure thence of Clive
for England will admit that never did treason so surely find its own
punishment as did the treason of Mir Jafar.

[Footnote 6: There can be no doubt about this. 'About five o'clock
the Nawab entered the fort, carried in an open litter, attended by
Mir Jafar Khan, his Bakhshi or General-in-chief, and the rest of his
principal officers.' He was present when the English were brought
before the Nawab: vide Broome, p. 66. Orme, vol. ii. p. 73, makes a
similar statement.]

But he is approaching now, with doubt and anxiety as to his
reception, the camp in which he is to receive from his confederate
the reward of treason, or reproaches for his want of efficient
co-operation on the day preceding. On reaching the camp, writes the
contemporaneous historian of the period,[7] 'he alighted from his
elephant, and the guard drew out and rested their arms, to receive
him with the highest honours. Not knowing the meaning of this
compliment, he drew back, as if he thought it a preparation to his
destruction; but Colonel Clive, advancing hastily, embraced him, and
saluted him Subahdar of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, which removed his
fears.' They discours