This intelligence caused the Admiral to address him in a style calculated to put an end to all further evasions:--"I now acquaint you," were the concluding words of this letter[104], "that the remainder of the troops which should have been here long ago (and which I hear the Colonel told you he expected), will be at Calcutta in a few days; that in a few days more I shall despatch a vessel for more ships and more troops; and that I will kindle such a flame in your country, as all the water in the Ganges shall not be able to extinguish. Farewell! remember that he who promises you this never yet broke his word with you or with any man whatsoever."
Suraj-u-Dowlah appears to have been alarmed at this communication; to which he replied in two notes, one dated the 9th, the other the 10th, of March. In the first, he endeavours to excuse himself for his want of punctuality in fulfilling his engagements with the English. In the second, he gives, though in general terms, that permission which had been so long desired, to attack Chandernagore. "You have understanding and generosity," he observes: "if your enemy, with an upright heart, claims your protection, you will give him his life; but then you must be well satisfied of the innocence of his intentions; if not, whatsoever you think right, that do."
Mr. Watts, Resident with the Nabob, had communicated to the Committee the fullest evidence of that prince's intrigues with the French; and, in his letter to Clive of the 1st of March, he asserts that he had advanced them one lac of rupees; and gives his opinion that the capture of Chandernagore is quite indispensable for the security of the English.
Mr. Watts's letter to the Committee closed (as appears by a letter from Mr. Drake to Clive) in the following words: "If you have not concluded with our enemies, I am persuaded you may attack without being under any apprehensions from the Nabob." In another letter to Clive, of the 10th of March, the Resident observes, "This serves to enclose a copy of my letter to the Committee, by which you will observe the Nabob has given his verbal consent for attacking Chandernagore."
In a letter of the 11th of the same month, Mr. Watts states, that the Nabob desired him to inform Colonel Clive that if he attacked the French he would not intermeddle.