Aliverdi Khan, the grand-uncle and predecessor of the reigning Nabob, had protected those European factories which he found established under the authority of firmans, or mandates, from the emperors of Delhi. He gained an increase of revenue by the duties on that commerce which the enterprise of these foreign merchants encouraged; and he taxed the wealth they accumulated, by making them give to him or his officers occasional presents, and by compelling them to contribute their portion of the sums he had so frequently to pay the Mahrattas, to purchase either exemption from attack, or the retreat of their predatory bands from Bengal. The sums thus levied were, during Aliverdi's government, not immoderate; and the policy of that able prince made him so vary the time of his demands, that they came at distinct periods, and under different pretexts, upon the different factories: for though, no doubt, fearful of the union of the Europeans settled in his country, he was sufficiently acquainted with their national jealousies to know, that nothing but a dread of ruin, operating at the same moment upon them all, could lead them to combine in any effort to oppose his demands. His grand-nephew, Suraj-u-Dowlah, was of a very different character from Aliverdi Khan. The latter, trained amid the vicissitudes of fortune, showed, in every measure he adopted, that he merited the throne which he had usurped. His successor, cradled in prosperity, came into power without an effort, and evinced, in every action, a weak and feeble mind, that had no objects but those of self-gratification, which he sought by means that were usually as cruel and unjust, as they were arbitrary and violent. This prince early showed that he owned no check upon such dispositions but that of personal fear: his cowardice fully equalled his presumption, and both were excessive. In looking round for objects of plunder after he ascended the musnud, or throne, the English settlements at Cossimbazar and Calcutta attracted his peculiar attention, on account of the reputed wealth, not only of the Europeans, but of the natives who had settled under their protection. The injuries and cruelties he had, in the prosecution of this object, inflicted upon the nation and upon the individuals whom he had wantonly attacked, were of a nature which a mind like his could not believe would ever be forgotten or forgiven. The disgrace he had sustained, in being obliged to fly before the British arms, and to purchase peace by concessions and a partial restitution of plunder, rankled in his breast; and, alarmed at a power he had hitherto contemned, he sought the alliance of the French, whose co-operation he now regretted he had not earlier obtained.