were of unquestioned antiquity; both the original acquisition and the subsequent confirmations of them had not been obtained without the return of valuable equivalents; and they chiefly subsisted at the expense, rather of other foreign residents, than of the natives, who have always been notoriously disinclined to the personal prosecution of foreign commerce. The Nabob had before inti

mated to Mr. Vansittart that this might be an ex pedient measure, and had been dissuaded from it by that gentleman. His recourse to it, at the period under consideration, without previous notice or conference, was, at the best, a very intemperate proceeding; and it provoked conduct equally intemperate on the part of the council, the deputation being instructed not to negotiate respecting the measure, but peremptorily to de mand that it might be revoked.

While Messrs. Amyatt and Hay were yet on their journey to Monghir, the animosities between the two governments underwent farther aggrava tion. The British, having long in vain solicited the Nabob for redress against the intolerable op pressions, or rather hostilities, committed by his officer Mahomed Ali, whose name has already been mentioned, resolved to treat that person as an enemy. He was, therefore, conducted to Cal cutta under arrest; and this circumstance excited the indignation of the Nabob. On the other hand, the Nabob had summoned to Monghir, and confined in that city, Juggutseet and his brother,

two Hindoo bankers of the first credit and opu. lence, who had long been distinguished for their attachment to the English. To these men, Cossim Ali professed no enmity; but affected a desire of profiting by their counsel in matters of government; a plea, by which no man could be deceived.

Besides these causes of contention, others arose from the jealousies between the English factory and troops at Patna, and the forces of the Nabob stationed in the fort of that city. It will be observed that Patna is about a hundred miles beyond Monghir, being at the distance of three hundred and forty from Calcutta. Mr. Ellis, the chief of the factory, having disapproved of the revolution, was considered by the Nabob as an enemy, and had been, probably on that account, treated by him with slight. The resentment, per haps, which this treatment had excited in a very irascible mind, acting on strong previous suspicions, rendered the chief credulous of every report or surmise to the disadvantage of the Nabob. Mr. Vansittart, indeed, deliberately ascribes to Mr. Ellis a formed design of effecting a breach between Cossim Ali and the Calcutta council. It is not easy to divine any rational motive which could suggest such a plan to Mr. Ellis; but, if he really formed it, he had ample reason, in the sequel, to repent his officiousness. The Nabob, in the mean time, and the officer who commanded his forces at Patna, seem fully to have returned the dislike and prejudice of Mr. Ellis. The feelings of the

chief and of the native commander extended themselves to their respective dependents, between whom every day produced fresh scenes of wrangling and disturbance.

The deputies, having arrived at Monghir, were admitted to an interview with the Nabob on the 15th of May, 1763; and this conference was followed by others, in the course of which they fully explained the views and demands of the Calcutta government. How far, at this period, Cossim Ali definitively expected or meditated a speedy rupture with the British, cannot be known. The prospect, however, of peace, did not as yet seem desperate. The language of the Nabob, though at once evasive and resentful, appears to have discovered more of an unmanaged and indeterminate peevishness than of an ominous reserve. On the other side, Mr. Amyatt, the principal deputy, is allowed, even by his political adversaries, to have possessed a mild and moderate mind;* and, although, at the outset, the deputies held a strain sufficiently peremptory, they somewhat softened from their sternness in the course of the negotiation.

At this period an occurrence took place which may perhaps be numbered among those trivial accidents that, in critical and nicely balanced conjunctures, frequently produce a powerful effect on human affairs. Some boats, which had been dis

Vansitt, Narr. Vol. iii. p. 195:

patched from the presidency two months before, with arms for the British force at Patna, appeared passing by Monghir. The coincidence of these indications of equipment with the jealousy which the Nabob entertained of the Patna force, fevered his mind almost past hope of recovery. In spite of the earnest and reiterated expostulations of Mr. Amyatt, he detained the arms. He now insisted also, as a preliminary to farther negotiation, that the Patna army should be removed, either to the seat of his own residence, or to Calcutta, and that all the other Brirish detachments stationed in the country should likewise be withdrawn. In one of his letters, indeed, he intimated a willingness to accept, as an alternative, the recal of Mr. Ellis from Patna, and the substitution of some more moderate chief. But his general tone was firm and without exception; steadily demanding the removal of the army as the first step to a restoration of friendship.

For the council to concede this point, in their present uncertainty respecting the designs of the Nabob, was hardly practicable; but, what seems to have been still more unfortunate, the very demand converted that uncertainty into a conviction of the worst. Messrs. Amyatt and Hay themselves signified to the presidency that Cossim Ali had manifestly resolved on war. The whole country now breathed confused sounds of approaching tumult, havoc, and change. No rumour, however preposterous, could be circulated respecting the in

tentions of either party, which was not eagerly be lieved by the other; and every imperfect or incipient appearance of conciliation was exultingly noted only as a detected effort at gaining time.

The position of the factory and army at Patna was somewhat critical; for Monghir exactly intercepted their communication with Calcutta. The gentlemen, therefore, of the factory, had earnestly 'solicited from the presidency, a discretional authority to seize the fort whenever they should per ceive hostilities to be actually commencing. Other, wise, as they alleged, both the army and the factory might be destroyed by the Nabob; or, even if the army should retire and be able to make head, numbers of British, whom sickness or other impediments confined to the town, would be left to the mercy of the hostile troops. The presidency accordingly, but under the dissent of the governor and Mr. Hastings, armed the factory with the re quired power.

In the midst of these fears and preparations, and to the surprise of the British, the Nabob, on the 19th of June, consented to release the boats of arms, and invited a renewal of negotiation, How far the invitation was sincere cannot easily be de termined; but it does not seem improbable that the Nabob really wavered. The prospect of peace, however, proved only momentary. The evident demonstrations, Cossim Ali declared, of a hostile purpose on the part of the British force at Patna, changed his intention; and what was known of