Clive, in several letters to Mr. Watts, written immediately after the fall of Chandernagore, urges the surrender or expulsion of the French, as an indispensable condition of the Nabob's continued friendship with the English. Every artifice was used by Suraj-u-Dowlah to evade compliance with this urgent and repeated demand. He first pleaded the debts due by the French to his subjects:--he was told, that the property of their Company could be made responsible for such debts. He next stated the loss of revenue to the Emperor, from duties paid on their trade:--this duty[121], he was told, had been estimated at 60,000 rupees, and would henceforward be paid by the English. Driven by these propositions from every ground of evasion, and not yet willing to declare openly his real intentions, the Nabob publicly directed the march of M. Law towards the dominions of the vizier of Oude, but with no design, as has been before shown, that the French should leave his territories. During the siege of Chandernagore, Roydullub, the principal minister of Suraj-u-Dowlah, had been sent, with a considerable body of men, to occupy an entrenched camp at Plassey. This armed force, which was meant to awe the English into attention to the Nabob's wishes, was not only continued after the French settlement was taken, but was reinforced by a party under the Bukhshee[122] (or commander of the army), Jaffier Ali Khan, and the future intentions of the Nabob were almost publicly proclaimed, when his officers not only prevented the passage of a few sepoys up the river to Cossimbazar, but stopped the supplies of ammunition and stores necessary to restore that factory to its former state. These orders, Mr. Watts wrote Clive, the Nabob's officers were commanded to enforce, by cutting the noses and ears of every one that attempted to pass the stations where they were posted. Such a state of affairs could not continue long. The important events of which they were the prelude will occupy the next chapter; but before we enter upon the narrative of them, it will be useful to take a concise view of the nature and construction of the power of Suraj-u-Dowlah, as well as the reputation and influence of his principal leaders and officers: for without such knowledge it is quite impossible to understand, much less to judge, the conduct of Clive in those wide scenes of intrigue, war, and negotiation, into which he was at this period compelled to enter, or else to abandon his half-executed enterprise. FOOTNOTES: [102] The distance of the northern part of the country ceded to Bussy was not two hundred miles from Calcutta, through Cuttack. [103] Admiral Watson's letter, dated March 6th, 1757. [104] 7th March, 1757.