The chief complaints of the Dutch against the English were, the latter having the monopoly of saltpetre at Patna, and their insisting that Dutch vessels, coming into the river, should take English pilots. To the first it was answered, that saltpetre had always been a monopoly, and that, since the English obtained it, the Dutch had even bought the article cheaper[70] than they had ever done before. With regard to the insisting upon no pilot being employed in the river but English, it was stated to be a measure forced on the Committee of Calcutta, by considerations of their own safety; and that, until the danger was over, they could not allow those of any other nation to be employed. These facts should have been satisfactory to the Dutch, could the Superior Government at Batavia have been contented to abandon, without a struggle, to another European power the political pre-eminence in India: calculating, however, upon the encouragement given them at the court of Moorshedabad, previous to the expedition to Patna, they determined to make a bold effort to establish such a force at Chinsura as might enable them to balance the predominating power of the English in Bengal. I find among Clive's papers an account[71] of this transaction; and as it exhibits, in a very clear manner, the progress of this serious difference between the two nations, from its commencement to its conclusion, I shall insert it at length. It is entitled "A Narrative of the Disputes with the Dutch in Bengal," and is as follows:— "About the month of November, 1758, a prevailing party at the Nabob Jaffier Aly Khan's Durbar, headed by Meeran his son, had prejudiced him to look with an evil and jealous eye on the power and influence of the English in the provinces, and taught him to think and look upon himself as a cipher, bearing the name of Subah only. From subsequent concurring circumstances, it must have been at that period, and from this cause, that, we imagine, a private negotiation was set on foot between the Nabob and the Dutch, that the latter should bring a military force into the provinces to join the former, and balance our power and sway. The Dutch, stimulated by envy at our very advantageous situation, and a sense of their own very small importance, readily embraced the overture, and hoped another Plassey affair for themselves.