"Word must have reached thee in France of the loss of Chandernagore, which was taken from us by the English on the 23rd of March, 1757, after eleven days' siege. I was then at Dacca, and expecting every day to see M. Chevalier return from his journey to the King of Assam. Judge, my dear wife, of the chagrin and embarrassment into which I was thrown by this deplorable event. The English had had no idea of attacking Chandernagore until they had recovered Calcutta from the Moors, taken the Moorish village at Hugli, and forced the Moors to agree to a most shameful peace. This was not, as thou wilt see, sufficient for them, for Siraj-ud-daula had offended them too deeply for them to stop when once they found themselves on a good road; but unfortunately we were an obstacle in the way of their vengeance, otherwise I believe they would have observed the neutrality which had been always so carefully maintained by the European nations in the country of the Ganges, in spite of all the wars which took place in Europe. Many of the French from Chandernagore--officers, Company's servants, and others--had taken refuge at Cossimbazar with M. Law, who formed there a party which opposed the English in various ways. The English, however, forced Siraj-ud-daula, against his true interest and in spite of his promise to protect us, to abandon us, and to make M. Law leave his Factory and go to Patna. This imprudent act was the ruin of the Prince and put the final touch to our misfortunes, whilst it has made the English masters of Bengal, and has filled their coffers with wealth. "I held on at Dacca till the 22nd of June. I was troubled as little as was possible in such circumstances, owing, I think, to the gratitude which the English felt for the services I had rendered them in Dacca the year before. I had all the more reason to think this was so because, after the misfortune which befell Chandernagore, they had often offered to secure to me all my effects and merchandise in Murshidabad [?]--they were worth a million--provided I made over to them the French Factory and all that belonged to the Company, and would myself leave for Pondicherry in the following October. They said I should not be considered a prisoner of war, and should not require to be exchanged. "These were, no doubt, very good terms, and most advantageous to me; but should I not have been dishonoured for ever if I had had a soul so servile and base as to accept them? I would have been covered with ignominy in my own eyes, and without doubt in those of all the world. I therefore thought it my duty to reject them.