ssage from the Prince, or his principal
minister, informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul, had an
intention (as, indeed, he rationally might, supposing that we were as
well disposed to him as we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender
himself into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the same time wished,
as a guaranty, that the commander-in-chief of the English forces should
give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in that
manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do not mean, my Lords, by
surrendering, that it was supposed he intended to surrender himself
prisoner of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of those
about him would put himself into the hands of his faithful subjects, of
those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob
did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that
without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into
his hands. Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the giving this
faith, if it were kept, would defeat his ultimate view, which was, when
the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to
murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English
general. In the first place, the Prince, without the English security,
would not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards,
without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were
difficulties that pressed upon the mind of the Nabob.

The English commander heard this astonishing proposition without any
apparent emotion. Being a man habituated to great affairs, versed in
revolutions, and with a mind fortified against extraordinary events, he
heard it and answered it without showing any signs of abhorrence or
detestation,--at the same time with a protestation that he would indeed
serve him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms as honor and
justice could support: informing him, that an assurance for the Prince's
safety could not be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell,
who was Governor, and his superior.

This conversation passed in the morning. On that very morning, and
whilst the transaction was hot, Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an
account of it. In his letter he informs him that he made an inquiry,
without stating from whom, but that he did inquire the probability of
the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who
assured him that there