Subsequently to this act of atrocity[222], Cossim Ali and the German[223], Sumroo, (who had been the instrument of the massacre,) fled before the British troops, and found refuge in the territories of Oude. Sujah-u-Dowlah, the prince of that country, not only refused to deliver them up on the demand of the British commander, but, acting as an ally of Cossim Ali, advanced to attack the English army, then under Major Munro, from whom he received a signal defeat at Buxar. He was afterwards pursued into his own country, and again discomfited, though he had been joined by the Mahratta chief, Mulhar Row Holkar. So situated, this ruler adopted a very politic and decided course. He would not, he said, bring a stain upon his honour, by surrendering men who had sought his protection; but he commanded Cossim Ali and Sumroo to quit his dominions, and repaired to the British camp, throwing himself entirely upon the clemency of his enemy. To this he was chiefly induced by the accounts which had been received of the return of Clive, whom he could not hope to oppose, and whose resentment he hoped to disarm by unqualified submission. His conduct and character were represented in the most favourable light by Major Carnac, who earnestly recommended that he should be treated with generosity, and confirmed in his dominions. Such a measure, this sensible and liberal officer remarked, would be more beneficial to our interests and reputation, than any change we could make in this quarter of India. The events that have been described led to the re-elevation of Meer Jaffier to the Musnud; and we must, therefore, shortly revert to the history of that prince. Before Clive left India, Meer Jaffier had committed many acts that might have been construed into infractions of the treaty with the English, and more, that, strictly viewed, would have proved him ill suited for the high station to which he had been raised: but Clive considered that his conduct was less to be attributed to his character, which was weak and vacillating, than to the galling nature of his dependent condition; and as the relations between the Nabob of Moorshedabad and the English could not be changed, without danger to the very existence of the latter, he judged wisely, that, while Meer Jaffier abstained from hostility, however glaring his defects, any change in the head of the native government would be impolitic, and attended with consequences alike injurious to the reputation and interests of the British government.