Placed in such circumstances, Clive, though he had received repeated orders to repair to Fort St. George, was not therefore exempted from the duty of exercising his judgment as to the course which it was best for the general interests of the Company that he should pursue; and he had to balance against that obedience which he owed, and was anxious to pay to his superiors, the imminent danger which his departure from Bengal would produce. The attack of Chandernagore had been indispensable to give security to the English against an European enemy: but the very success which had attended their arms upon this and other occasions was likely, with a prince of Suraj-u-Dowlah's character, to involve them in a further and more extensive scene of hostilities. This Clive foresaw before that operation commenced; and, writing to the Committee at Calcutta upon this subject, he observed, "If you attack Chandernagore, you cannot stop there; you must go further. Having established yourself by force, and not by the consent of the Nabob, he by force will endeavour to drive you out again." In a private letter to Mr. Pigot, written a month after the fall of the French settlement[110], he gives a vivid description of the Nabob's character, and of the motives and feelings which he supposes to agitate his weak and vacillating mind, at a period critical both for himself and for the Company's establishments in Bengal. "The most of the articles of the peace," he observes, "are complied with; yet, from the tyranny, cowardice, and suspicion of the Nabob, no dependence can be had upon him. No consideration could induce him to deliver up the French: it is true he has ordered them out of his dominions, and they are at some distance from his capital; but he has retained them secretly in his pay, and has certainly written to Monsieur Deleyrit and Bussy, to send men to his assistance. One day he tears my letters, and turns out our vakeel, and orders his army to march; he next countermands it, sends for the vakeel, and begs his pardon for what he has done. Twice a week he threatens to impale Mr. Watts: in short, he is a compound of every thing that is bad, keeps company with none but his menial servants, and is universally hated and despised by the great men. This induces me to acquaint you there is a conspiracy going on against him by several of the great men, at the head of whom is Jugget Seit himself, as also Cojah Wazeed. I have been applied to for assistance, and every advantage promised the Company can wish. The Committee are of opinion it should be given as soon as the Nabob is secured. For my own part, I am persuaded, there can be neither peace nor security while such a monster reigns."