"Things were on this footing when, at the beginning of June, I learned that the English, having got rid of M. Law, were marching upon Murshidabad with all their forces to achieve the destruction of a Prince who was already half ruined by his own timidity and cowardice, and still further weakened by the factions formed against him by the chief members of his own family--a Prince detested by every one for his pride and tyranny, and for a thousand dreadful crimes with which he had already soiled his reputation though he was barely twenty-five years old. "I knew only too well what was preparing against him, and I was also most eager to find some honourable means of escape for myself. M. Chevalier's absence troubled me greatly, and I did not like to leave him behind me. At last he arrived on the 16th or 17th. I had taken the precaution to provide myself with a _parwana_, or passport, signed by Siraj-ud-daula, allowing me to go where I pleased. That Prince had recalled M. Law to him, but too late, for I felt certain he could not rejoin him in time to save him or to check the progress of his enemies. I was in a hurry therefore to go and help to save him if that were possible, taking care, however, to choose a route by which I could escape if, as I thought probable, he should have succumbed beforehand to the efforts of the English, and the treason of his subjects. "It was then the 22nd of June when I started with about 35 boats,[129] MM. Chevalier, Brayer [possibly a relation of the M. Brayer who commanded at Patna], Gourlade, the surgeon, and an Augustine Father, Chaplain of the Factory, 8 European soldiers, of whom several were old and past service, 17 topass gunners, 4 or 5 of the Company's servants, and about 25 or 30 peons.[130] There, my dear wife, is the troop with which thou seest me start upon my adventures.[131] To these, however, should be added my Christian clerks, my domestics, and even my cook, all of whom I dressed and armed as soldiers to assist me in what I expected to be a losing game, and which, in fact, had results the most disastrous in the world for my personal interests.